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“O, what a Fascinating Creature!” Page 49, 









t 







.V. 






LITTLE TRUDY'S FLYAWAY SERIES 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE 


BY 

SOPHIE MAY 

AUTHOR OF “ LITTLE PRUDY STORIES,” “ DOTTY 
DIMPLE STORIES,” ETC. 

c '■ j ^ ^ 

/' 

ILLUSTRATED 


“ What is home without a mother? ” 


/ 


BOSTON 

LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 


13586 


Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by 
LEE AND SHEPARD, 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
Copyright, 1898, by Rebecca. 8. Clarke. 

All Rights Reserved. 

Prudy Keeping House. 




* 


$ 0 > 8 - 1898 | 


of 


'VO ot: 'Ui UcOciV 

I 

% V=b. - 


f 


TO 

MY YOUNG FRIEND, 


BESSIE BAKER, 


































* 


























































































































































































CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAOR 

I. A Queer Idea, 9 

II. Pride and Oranges, 26 

III. Borrowed Jewels, 37 

IV. Going to Housekeeping, ... * 54 

V. Mother Hubbard’s Dinner, ... 73 

VI. Prudy in a New Light 88 

VII. A Fly in Trinity Church, ... 105 

VIII. Dotty’s Windpipe, 121 

IX. Two Live Children, . . . . 138 

X. “Riding on Jack Frost,” . . . .150 

XI. The Jewel Cabinet, .... 107 

XII. “Folded Eyes,” . ... . . .182 


( 7 ) 



PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE 


CHAPTER I. 

A QUEER IDEA. 

One of Mrs. Allen’s bay windows stood 
open. Between the ivies, tuberoses, and 
lilies, you caught a glimpse of gilded 
walls and rare paintings. Better than all, 
you saw four young faces looking out at 
a snow-storm ; Dotty with eyes like liv- 
ing diamonds, Prudy fair and sweet, Hor- 
ace lordly and wise ; and the little one 
“with dove’s eyes” following every motion 
of his head, as if she were a sunflower, 
and he the sun. 


10 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“ Please shut the window, quick, Horace ; 
the plants will freeze,” said Prudy, drawing 
in her powdered head. 

“ Things don’t freeze in cloudy weather, 
Prue ; but you children will catch cold ; so 
here goes.” 

“ 0, Hollis, don’t those snow-specks look 
like little bits o’ birdies, athout any wings 
or any feathers, too ? ”. 

“ Droll birds they would be,” said Aunt 
Madge. “ That reminds me of an old rid- 
dle, children, — 

“‘White bird featherless 
Flew out of Paradise, 

Lit on the castle wall ; 

Came a knight breathless, 

Ate it up toothless, 

Rode away horseless.’ ” 

“ Why, auntie, the 4 bird featherless ’ must 
have been the snow; but who was the 
knight ! ” 


A QUEER IDEA. 


11 


“Who rides over the sky without any 
horse, Dotty, and melts snow by shining 
on it?” 

“ 0, the sun — the snn ! ” 

“Hollis, I want to ask you sumpin. 
Does those snow-specks fiy down out o’ 
heaven ? Does the little angels see ’em ?” 

“ Ho, Topknot ; they only come from the 
clouds; they are nowhere near up to the 
little angels.” 

“Hot half so near as you are, Goldi- 
locks,” said Aunt Madge, brushing back 
the child’s soft hair. 

“ I hope you don’t mean Fly’s going to 
die,” cried Dotty, in sudden alarm, remem- 
bering how crossly she had spoken to the 
child two or three times since they had 
been in Hew York. 

“Ho, Dotty; I only mean that we are 
told, in the Bible, there are ‘ministering 


12 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


spirits,’ and we believe they watch over 
good little children.’’ 

“ 0, my sliole!” said Fly, folding her 
tiny hands, and raising her eyes to the top 
of the window. “Nice, pretty little spir- 
ricks out there, only but I can’t see ’em.” 

“No, Miss Eyebright; not even you. 
Wait till you go where they live.” 

“ Wisht I could go up there now, a-visit- 
ing; stay all night, and three weeks, and 
then — ” 

“ Hush, Fly Clifford ; you’re the wicked- 
est girl to talk,” said Dotty. “ I shouldn’t 
ever expect to go to heaven at all, if I 
said such things as you do. — 0, auntie, 
I am so sorry it storms ! Maria and her 
mother won’t come — will they?” 

Maria Brooks was a little blind girl 
with whom the family were just making 
acquaintance. A few days before, when 


A QUEER IDEA. 


13 


she was walking Broadway, led by her 
“freckled doggie,” Fly, lost on the street, 
had spied her, and been attracted by the 
dog, and Maria had persuaded the child to 
go home with her. Afterwards Mrs. Brooks 
had taken Fly back to Colonel Allen’s; 
and in this way Aunt Madge had learned 
about Maria’s blindness, and had offered to 
take her to a physician who could help 
her, if any one could. 

“Yes, Dotty; I presume they will come 
to-day, for Maria can hardly wait to have 
the doctor look at her eyes.” 

u Of course they’ll come,” said Horace ; 
“ who ever heard of brooks minding the 
weather? Rain water agrees with ’em.” 

“ If you please, Mrs. Allen,” said Na- 
thaniel, appearing at the door, “I — ” 

“0, they’ve come — have they, Nat?” 
asked Horace. Horace was already well 


14 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


acquainted with the waiting man, and 
called him Nat, though he was a very 
sober youth, with velvety hair, and a green 
neck-tie, as stiff as a cactus. 

Nat only replied by handing Mrs. Allen 
a letter, with a hesitating air, as if he 
would much rather not do it. 

“ A despatch ! ” cried Mrs. Allen, turn- 
ing rather pale. 

Dotty Dimple and Flyaway crowded close 
to her, and overwhelmed her with ques- 
tions. 

“0, what is it?” said one. “Who 
wroted it ? And why didn’t Hollis bring 
the camphor bottle athout my asking?” 
said the other. 

But the older children knew better than 
to speak just then. As soon as Mrs. Allen 
could get her breath, she said, — 

“ Don’t be frightened, dears. It is only 


A QUEER IDEA. 


15 


a message from your Uncle Augustus. He 
can’t come home to-night, as we expected. 
He says, ‘ One of my old attacks. Nothing 
serious. Can you come ? ’ ” 

“ 0, is that all ? ” said Dotty, and ceased 
fanning her auntie with a book-cover. 

“ 0, is that all ? ” echoed FJy, and left off 
patting her cheek with a pencil. 

“ But, children,” said Horace, “ don’t you 
understand Uncle Augustus is sick — wants 
auntie to go and take care of him ? ” 

“ Why, he can’t have her.” 

“ Indeed, Miss Dot, and why not ? ” 

“ She’s got company, you know.” 

“ There, little sister ! I wouldn’t think 
that of you ? Poor Uncle Augustus ! ” 

“ But he says he isn’t serious,” said 
Dotty, looking ashamed. “ Auntie, you 
don’t think he’s serious — do you ? ” 

“ No, dear ; he’s suffering very much, 


16 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


but I am not in the least alarmed. He 
has had just such attacks as this ever since 
he came cut of the army. He is at a hotel 
in Trenton, New Jersey, and needs some 
one to wait upon him, who knows just 
what to do. I am very sorry to go and 
leave my company, Dotty, hut — ” 

“ O, auntie, you ought to go,” cried 
Dotty. 

“ I dislike particularly not to be polite.” 

“ O, auntie, you will be ’ tic’ly polite,” 
cried little Echo. “ Please let me go, too ; 
I won’t make no noise.” 

“ How long do you think you’ll have to 
stay, auntie?” said Prudy. 

“ I cannot tell, dear. These attacks are 
usually short, and I think quite likely your 
uncle can come home to-morrow night ; but 
he may not be able till next day.” 

“ How he’ll feel if he can’t be here to 


A QUEER IDEA. 


17 


Christmas ! ” said Dotty ; “ and so much 
greens and things in the windows ! ” 

“Yes; and how we shall both feel to 
know our little friends are keeping house 
by themselves ! ” 

“ Keeping house ? 0, may we keep 

house ! ” exclaimed Prudy, her eyes sud- 
denly brightening. 

“ Why, yes, my child ; you may be the 
lady of the mansion, if that is what you 
mean, and Horace the lord.” 

“But may I cook the dinners, and not 
ask Mrs. Fixfax ? Because I really do 
know a great deal, Aunt Madge. You’d 
be surprised ! I can cook cake, and pie, 
and biscuit, and three kinds of pudding. 
Please, this once, let me manage things 
just as I want to.” 

“Just as we want, you mean,” said Dotty. 

2 


18 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“I can make gingerbread as well as you 
can.” 

“And I shaked a table-cloth once,” put 
in the youngest. “ Only I shan’t be here 
if my auntie tookens me off.” 

“ Yes, auntie,” said Horace ; “ let the 
girls manage. They’ll get up queer messes, 
but ’twill be good fun.” 

“ Do you believe it ? ” said auntie, 
thoughtfully. And there entered her brain, 
at that moment, a singular scheme, which, 
almost any other woman, would have 
seemed absurd. 

“ Poor little souls ? Their visit has been 
a failure. I’ve a great mind to make an 
arrangement with Mrs. Fixfax to have 
them keep house in her room.” (Mrs. 
Fixfax was Mrs. Allen’s housekeeper.) 
“ The novelty will amuse them. Of course 
they will waste flour and sugar, but not 


A QUEER IDEA. 


19 


very much, probably, and Mrs. Fixfax will 
be on the watcli to see that they don’t 
get too hungry. It will tax her severely, 
but I can pay her for her trouble. Really, 
the more I think of it, the more I’m in- 
clined to try it. They say I’m foolishly 
indulgent to children. Perhaps so ; but 
I do want them happy when they come to 
my house visiting.” 

“ Have you thinked it all up ?” asked 
Fly, peeping into her auntie’s face; “1 
won’t ’sturb Uncle ’Gustus.” 

“Yes, chickie; I’ve thinked of talking 
to Mrs. Fixfax about letting you all keep 
house ; that is, if she won’t consider it too 
much trouble.” 

“ Trouble ?” said Prudy ; “ why, I should 
think it would be a real help, auntie. She 
has so much care, you know. And if I 
got the meals for us four, the cook could 
rest, too.” 


20 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


Aunt Madge only smiled at this. 

There were five servants in all : John, 
the coachman ; Nat, the waiting-man ; Mrs. 
Fixfax, the housekeeper; Rachel Fixfax, 
the chambermaid ; and Patty Diggles, the 
cook They were all remarkably faithful, 
except pretty Rachel, the housekeeper’s 
daughter, who was rather gay and flighty, 
and had been something of a trial to her 
mistress. 

Aunt Maude went into the kitchen 
dressed for her journey. Mrs. Fixfax had 
just returned from market, and was talk- 
ing with the cook about the dinner. 

“ That is a fine plump turkey,” said 
Mrs. Allen; “I wish I were to help eat 
it; hut I came to tell you, Mrs. Fixfax, 
that Colonel Allen is sick, and I must go 
to him at once, and leave you with the 
care of these children.” 


A QUEER IDEA. 


21 


The housekeeper, who was a fat, com- 
fortable-looking woman, twice as large as 
her mistress, said, “ Indeed, mum!” hoped 
Colonel Allen “ wasn’t sick to speak of,” 
and shook her broad sides with laughter 
at the idea of taking care of Fly. 

“I’ll give up going to church to-mor- 
row, mum ; for, light as the child is, I 
can but feel as if you was sitting a ton’s 
weight on my shoulders. And I promise 
to keep her alive if the Lord’s willing.” 

“You will hardly be obliged to give up 
your whole time Mrs. Fixfax. I shall ab- 
solutely forbid her going out of the house, 
unless you, or some other grown-up per- 
son, has charge of her. And really, with 
John, Nathaniel, and Patty to keep guard, 
I don’t see wbat mischief can befall the 
little creature.” 

“We’ll all do our best, mum,” replied 
Mrs. Fixfax, heroically. 


22 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“ I have perfect faith that you will. 
There is one more favor to ask. These 
children have had a strange visit thus far, 
and if I go away and leave them, I fear 
they will feel rather forlorn. Can you 
consent to let the little girls ‘ keep house/ 
as they call it ? That is, cook their own 
meals, and set their own table ?” 

The cook, who was stuffing the turkey^ 
was so surprised that she spilled a hand- 
ful of sage over her apron. She would 
not have dared say the words, but her 
thoughts ran like this : “ Pretty doings, 

indeed ! What does Mrs. Allen mean by 
letting children come into the kitchen to 
bother me V' 

But Aunt Madge had not finished speak- 
ing. “ Mrs. Fixfax, there is a little old 
cooking-stove in the atiic. Don’t you re- 
member you had it in your room when 


A QUEER IDEA. 


23 


you were nursing Rachel through that 
fever ?” 

a O, yes’m, so I had ; and it shall he set 
right up there again, mum, if you say 
so,” said the obliging housekeeper ; “ and 
I’ll carry up flour and sugar, and what 
not, and move out my own things, so the 
children can have the room pretty much 
to themselves.” 

“No need of that, Mrs. Fixfax,” spoke 
up the cook, very pleasantly. “Let ’em 
come right into the kitchen. I should 
admire to see ’em enjoy themselves.” 

Patty Diggles was a singular woman. 
She was always full of polite speeches, 
just a minute too late. 

“ Thank you, Patty ; but I think the 
children may feel more at home in Mrs. 
Fixfax’s room, with no one to watch them. 
And now, good bye. I hope to come back 
to-morrow.” 


24 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


Mrs. Fixfax left the kitchen to find Na- 
thaniel, and get him to help her move the 
stove. As soon as the business was over, 
Nathaniel came into the kitchen, and held 
up his sooty hands for Patty to see. She 
was stabbing the turkey with a darning- 
needle. 

“ Some folks know how to feather their 
own nests,” said she. 

“Why, what have I done now, Patty?” 

“Not you, hut Mrs. Fixfax; she’s going 
to wait and tend on those children, and 
of course she’ll get a splendid present for 
it. I should admire to have the little 
dears round me in the kitchen; but she 
spoke" up, and took the words right out 
of my mouth.” 

The young man laughed in his sleeves, 
as he turned them hack to wash his hands. 
He took care not to express his mind, 


A QUEER IDEA. 


25 


however. He had a tew fixed ideas. One. 
was, that Mrs. Allen could do no wrong; 
and another was, thas he must never handy 
words with Fatty Diggles, because Mrs. 
Allen had strictly forbidden it. 


26 


PRUDY keeping house. 


CHAPTER II. 

PRIDE AND ORANGES. 

While Mrs. Fixfax was making her 
room ready for the little housekeepers, 
Aunt Madge went to her own chamber, and 
locked up her best dresses, and most valu- 
able possessions. The children watched her 
with some curiosity. 

“Are you afraid of burgalers , auntie V ' 
asked Dotty. “Because, if you are, we 
shan’t dare stay here.” 

“No, Dotty. I only thought, if you 
should play keep house, it might be rather 
amusing to come in here, and dress up in 
some of my old finery. You are welcome 


PRIDE AND ORANGES. 


27 


to whatever you can find, for I have locked 
up all that is worth much.” 

“0, you darling auntie, won’t that be 
splendid? Now we shan’t feel half so sorry 
about your going away.” 

“Sorry!” said Mrs. Allen, with a mis- 
chievous smile. “You are so delighted you 
don’t know what to do.” 

“There, auntie, that isn’t fair,” laughed 
Prudy, “when we’ve been trying our best 
to cry. But somehow, how can we, when 
Uncle Augustus isn’t very sick, and you’re 
coming right back? But what made me 
laugh just now, was looking at that ruffled 
pillow-case, and thinking what a splendid 
cap it would make for an old lady, tied 
down with black ribbon!” 

“A pretty uproar we shall find when we 
get back, Miss Prudy; but I am prepared 
for that. Only promise one thing — keep 


28 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


that baby in the house. Flyaway, darling, 
will you remember not to go out of doors ?” 

“Yes, um, I’ll ’member,” replied Fly, 
winking her eyes solemnly. She had ex- 
pected, till the last minute, to go with her 
auntie. 

“ There is one thing I regret. If Mrs. 
Brooks and Maria come, they will be very 
much disappointed. Tell them I’ll try to 
attend to them the day but one after Christ- 
mas. And now, good by, children. You 
know you’re as dear to me as the apple of 
my eye. Do take good care of yourselves, 
and be good.” 

“The apple of your eye appears to be 
split in four quarters, auntie,” remarked Hor- 
ace; and on the strength of that joke, Mrs. 
Allen started on her journey to Trenton. 

“Now I suppose I’m to be the head of 
the family,” said Prudy, with a majestic air. 


PRIDE AND ORANGES. 


29 


“We are the two heads, if you please, 
mum” said Horace, striking an attitude. 

“ What am I, then?” asked Dotty. 

“You? The foot. You must run and 
tend.” 

“H’m! ” 

“ What am I ? ” asked Fly. 

“Why, the little finger, pet. All you 
have to do is to curl up in one corner.” 

‘H’m!” responded Fly, looking at Dot- 
ty’s solemn face, and trying to draw her 
own down to exactly the same length. 

“ Pretty well, I should think,” said Dotty, 
as soon as her injured feelings would allow 
her to speak. “What have I done to be 
put down to the bottom of the foot?” 

“ But you know, little sister, one woman 
has to manage a house; and I am older 
than you.” 

“But you can’t make a bit better ginger- 


so 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


bread, Prudy Parlin! If I’ve got to be 
your hired girl, I won’t play.” 

“ Bo I wouldn’t,” said Horace. “I’d show 
’em what I thought of such actions.” 

Upon this there was a little whirlwind, 
which spun Dotty out of the room before 
you could count two. 

“ They stand very high in their own self- 
esteem. He’s a hero, she a hero-ess ! They 
think I like to be laughed at. She said it 
only took one woman to manage a house; 
but she never made any fuss when Horace 
spoke up, and wanted to help. It’s me that 
can’t manage. — -just because it’s me. Who 
wants Horace for the head of the family? 
He don’t know more’n the head of a pin ! 
When’d ever he make ginger-bread?” 

By this time Dotty had reached her own 
room in a tumult of rage. 

“ Prudy wouldn’t ’low three heads to it, 


PRIDE AND ORANGES. 


31 


I s’pose ? O, no ; for then I could be one ! 
If I was a great boy, with a silver watch, 
that wasn’t her own sister, she’d let me ! 
Yes, if I had five heads, she wouldn’t have 
said a word.” 

Dotty paced the floor restlessly, with her 
hands behind her. 

“ I shan’t go back. Let ’em keep their 
old house. I can keep house my own self 
up in this room — wish I’d brought Fly — 
she’s too good for ’em. Wish I hadn’t 
come to New York to be imposed upon.” 

As Dotty was crossing and recrossing 
the room, her eye fell on one of the illu- 
minated cards on the wall, printed in red 
and gold, and wreathed with delicate lilies 
of the valley — “ God resisteth the proud, 
but giveth grace to the humble.” 

The angry child stopped short. 

“Who put that there ? What did auntie 


82 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


mean ? She meant me. Everybody means 
me. I wouldn’t have thought that of aun- 
tie.” 

Dotty turned away ; hut the words fol- 
lowed her across the room like the eyes of 
a portrait. 

“ 4 God resisteth the proud.’ Well, who 
said I was proud ? People are so queer ! 
Always think it’s me wants the best things. 
‘Giveth grace to the humble.’ There, I 
s’pose that means Prudy. She’s just as 
humble ! Never wants to take the best 
parts when we play. 0, no ; Prudy’s 
humble ? Prudy’s a hero-ess /” 

But scold as she might, those burning 
red words were looking right down into 
Dotty’s soul. Though she shut her eyes, 
there they were still. “ 1 God resisteth the 
proud.’ Am I proud ? — Yes. Does God 
resisteth me? — Yes, for the Bible can’t lie. 


PRIDE AND ORANGES. 


33 


What is resisteth ? Something that makes 
you feel bad, prob’ly. That’s why I can’t 
he happy. I won’t be proud another min- 
ute.” 

Dotty winked fast, set her teeth together, 
pinched her neck, and swallowed. 

“ There, it’s going down my throat like a 
pill, — its gone ! Am I proud any more ? 
No — for I really don’t s’pose I can make 
gingerbread quite so well as Prudy ! I 
never made any but once, and then Norah 
took it out of the oven and put in the gin- 
ger and molasses. No, I’m not proud. I 
don’t wan’t to keep house. I shouldn’t 
know how. It would be very much better 
to go back and behave, for I can’t stay here 
without being lonesome.” 

Dotty looked again at the red and gold 
text. “ How different it seems to me now 


3 


34 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


I’m humble ! People needn’t be proud if 
they’d swallow it down like a pill.” 

Dotty’s reasoning was rather mixed; still 
it is worthy of notice, that she was doing a 
remarkable thing for her, as she slowly 
walked back to her auntie’s room. 

But all this while Prudv, too, had been 
suffering. She could never bear to have 
her young sister angry, and, if it had not 
been for Horace, would have gone to her 
with all sorts of promises — anything for 
peace. 

“ She’s an outrageous little tyrant, Prue. 
She ought to have a sound whipping.” 

“ 0, Horace,” said Prudy, quite shocked ; 
“ she can’t help her temper; she has to be 
humored.” r< 

“ Poh ! that’s just what ails her ! Been 
humored to death.” 

“ But, Horace, can’t we change our play,. 


PRIDE AND ORANGES. 


35 


somehow? It never will do for me to try 
to order her about.” 

“ Nonsense, Prue ! But if you’re going 
to be so fussy, you might keep boarding- 
house, and have her for lady hoarder.” 

Prudy’s brow cleared. 

“ Just what’ll suit her, Horace ! A lady 
boarder is so fashionable, — like the one 
they had at Mrs. Penny’s, — always wash- 
ing out laces. Now I’ll go tell Dotty.” 

Just then Miss Dimple appeared at the 
door with an uncertain smile. 

“ I — I — thought — ” 

“ 0, how kind of you to come hack to 
us, my Lady Magnifico ! ” cried Horace, 
bowing himself double. “ Your landlady 
was afraid you objected to your hoarding- 
place.” 

“ You see,” said Prudy, eagerly, “we are 
making believe I keep boarders. I’ve 4 seen 


36 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


better days/ or something of that kind, 
as they say in story-books — 0, seems to 
me my husband died.” 

“Yes; I saw his death in the papers/' 
said Dotty, briskly ; 44 so you don’t want 
me for your hired girl — do you ?” 

Then she thought, 44 How glad I am I 
came back ! It’s always better to be hum- 
ble!” and added aloud, with a fine-lady 
drawl, — 

4 Ho, mim ; it’s not the style I’ve been 
subject to. I was necessiated to leave you, 
mim, because I can’t eat out of anything 
but gold teaspoons.” 

44 That sounds so like Mrs. Pitkin Smith!’’ 
said Prudy, laughing. 44 She used to board 
at Mrs. Penny’s, Horace. Come, let’s go 
and dress in our costumes. I’ll be Mother 
Hubbard ; and Horace, you go into uncle’s 
dressing-room and see what you can find.” 


BORROWED JEWELS. 


37 


CHAPTER III. 

BORROWED JEWELS. 

“ Of course I must take the best things,” 
said Dotty ; “ for I’m to have the best part.” 

So she chose a blue poplin dress, a pink 
sash, a scarlet bow, and a green pin. The 
dress was half a yard too long, and she 
caught it up in front with some artificial 
flowers she found in a box. Her head she 
surmounted with an old chignon, which 
bobbed hack and forth, as she walked, like 
a pedler’s pack. 

“ 0, see, Prudy,” said she; “here is 
auntie’s jewel cabinet. What cunning little 
sliding drawers ! ” 


38 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“ Don’t open it; don’t touch it, Dotty. I 
saw auntie lock it up in her safe once ; hut 
I suppose she took it out again to get her 
watch.” 

“No, she didn’t; here’s her watch,” said 
Dotty, swinging open one of the little 
drawers. 

“ That’s her other watch, Dotty. She says 
it needs mending.” 

“ Then I’m going to wear it ; it is just as 
good for a lady boarder, as a whole one.” 

“Don’t, Dotty; that’s the watch Uncle 
Augustus gave her when they were mar- 
ried, and she thinks the world of it.” 

“Well, he gave her the other one too — 
didn’t he ?” 

“Yes; last Christmas: don’t you know 
how she found it in an orange ? ” 

“0, I remember. And she ought to 
think the most of that one, Prudy, because 


BORROWED JEWELS. 


39 


she loves him better now than she did 
when he gave her this one ; ever so much 
better.” 

“ It’s of no consequence to'you if she does, 
or if she doesn’t, Dotty Dimple. What 
light have you with that cabinet, I should 
like to know? Shut it right up this min- 
ute. 0 please do, Dotty.” 

Dotty’s contrary spirit began to rise. She 
opened every one of the drawers, and 
poured out the glittering jewels. Of course 
Fly was on the spot in a twinkling; but 
Prudy caught her, and playfully pinned her 
little arms down to her sides; so her pry- 
ing fingers had no chance to do mischief. 

“ Didn’t auntie tell us to dress up in her 
old finery ?” said Dotty, thrusting the watch 
into her girdle. 

“ Old finery, Dotty Dimple l” 

“And isn’t this old ? 4 You’re welcome 


40 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


to whatever you can find ;’ that was just the 
words she said, Prudy Parlin.” 

“ 0, how many ways there are for people 
to do wrong if they want to !” cried Prudy, 
in despair. ‘‘When you do get started, 
Dotty - — Will you, or will you not, put up 
those things ? If you don’t, it’s my duty to 
call Horace, and — ” 

“’Fore I’d be a tell-tale!” said Dotty, 
slipping off half a dozen rings in haste. 
“There, I won’t wear but just two — one 
on each thumb. Who wants the old 
watch? Tick’s all out of it. You don’t 
know, Prudy, how tight those rings fit. I 
could wear ’em on my forefinger, hut I 
shan’t, you make such a fuss.” 

Prudy answered by a look of unutterable 
contempt. 

“I suppose,” said she, speaking with a ve- 
hemence quite unusual to her — “ I suppose 


BORROWED JEWELS. 


41 


you know auntie’s jewels are worth more 
money than father has in the world! II 
you lose one of them, I don’t know who’s 
going to pay for it ; that’s all.” 

Dotty looked amazed, but answered 
coolly, — 

“ Of course I always knew that ! Auntie 
has about as nice things as the governor’s 
wife.” 

She was sure she was very humble, since 
swallowing her pride like a pill; but some- 
how she was determined not to take off 
those rings. 

“ Prudy needn’t speak so sharp to me ! I 
didn’t care about wearing ’em in the first 
place; but now I’ll do it to show her what’s 
the use to preach !” 

Prudy, having done her duty, said no 
more, but proceeded to look over liet 
auntie’s wardrobe in search of a dress. 


42 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“ I s’pose she thinks I’m the awfulestgirl,” 
mused Dotty, fluttering in and out of the 
closet. “I s’pose she’s thinking about that 
rag-bag last summer — how Jennie Vance 
no business to take those three dollars out 
of the saddle-bag pockets ! Grandma said, 
‘ You’re welcome to all you can find.’ Well, 
but that didn’t mean for Jennie to steal! 
Prudy needn’t go to thinking this is the same 
kind of a thing, for it isn’t. I guess steal- 
ing is pretty different from borrowing.” 

Dotty viewed herself in the glass with 
secret satisfaction. She really looked like 
a Fourth of July fantastic ; but we do not 
see ourselves as others see us. 

“ She won’t be the least help to me about 
the house,” thought Prudy, with a feeling 
of envy. “ I shall have every single thing 
to do ; and I declare I don’t know what to 
get for dinner.” 


BORROWED JEWELS. 


43 


She chose the worst looking wrapper her 
aunt’s wardrobe afforded, and a gingham 
apron with pockets. Quite good enough 
for a woman keeping house without a ser- 
vant. And as she had decided to call her- 
self Mother Hubbard, she made an ample 
cap, by folding a “ pillow-sham,” and put- 
ting two of its ruffled edges around her 
face for a double border. Then, with greeij 
spectacles at her nose, a hunch of keys at 
her waist, and a pair of high-heeled slippers 
on her feet, she went to the door, and called 
for Fly. 

“ Fly ! Why, isn’t she in there ? ” re- 
sponded Horace, appearing on the landing. 
“ You didn’t think I had her with me — did 
you?” 

As Prudy wisely remarked, “ How man}/ 
ways there are for oeople to do wrong if 
they want to ! ” 


44 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


Seeing her betters disagree, little Fly had 
taken her turn at pouting. 

“ They don’t say nuffin’ ’bout fixin’ me up. 
Goin’ to let me go to the party in my old 
clo’es? Wisht auntie’d tookened me with 
her. Might just’s well not ! Might a’ worn 
soft slippers, and not ’sturbed Uncle’ Gus- 
tus ! ” Fly wafted herself to the top of the 
bureau, and gazed down on the girls in stern 
displeasure. But she might as well have 
scowled at empty air, for no notice was ta- 
ken of her. Dotty was giving an extra 
touch to her chignon, and Prudy trying on 
her cap. “ Hark ! What’s that ? ” 

It was the street-cry away off in the back- 
yard — “Fine fresh oranges.” 

“ Guess I’ll go see what’s the matter with 
that man,” thought Miss Fly. “ Guess he’s 
got hurted.” 

She slid down from the bureau, and stole 



Little Miss Fly. Page 45. 









BORROWED JEWELS. 


45 


softly out of the room backward ; but her 
feet made no more sound on the carpet than 
the fall of a rose-leaf, and neither of the 
girls looked up. 

“For course I shan’t go ou’ doors, ’cause I 
Solomon promised I wouldn’t,” said she, pat- 
tering down the basement stairs. 

The fact was, she had no idea any one 
would let her go. But it so happened that 
thoughtless Rachel was the one who un- 
locked the basement door, and it was an 
easy thing to slip out behind her. 

“ ’Cause I spect she’ll send me ri’ hack.” 

But when Rachel looked around, and saw 
the pretty child with her fair hair blowing 
w’ild, she only laughed and went on gossip* 
ing with the orange hoy. She saw no harm 
in letting Fly hop about the pavement on 
one foot sucking oranges, till she herself 
felt chilled by the keen wind; then she 


PBUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


*6 

drew the little girl into the house, and 
shut the door against the snow-storm, say- 

ingr- 

“ Why, how happened you out here, little 
Miss Fly?” 

“ She sawed me the whole time ; she 
ought to sended me in,” thought Fly, dan 
cing up and down to shake off the snow. 
« Twasn’t me was naughty ; ’twas the rest 
the folks. They didn’t pay no ’tention 
where I went to.” 

But though she pretended to herself that 
she had done no wrong, she did not wish 
to he found out, and crept very softly up 
. stairs, even as far as the cupola, and looked 
out of the windows with all her might. 

“ Cold room up here, athout no fire,” 
thought she, by and by, with a shiver; and 
just then she heard the girls calling. 

“Here I is,” a voice replied, far up th j 
height; and down ran Fly in a trice. 


BORROWED JEWELS. 


47 


“You haven’t been ‘up attic’ all this 
time, Topknot?” 

“ Well, you ought to paid ’tention where 
I’s going to,” returned Fly, sharply. “ No^ 
body knows what I’ll do next — auntie said 
there didn’t !” 

Horace laughed. “ Come, fix her up, 
girls ; she’s my baby.” 

“I thought you were the ‘Man in the 
Moon,’ ” said Mother Hubbard, “ and he 
isn’t married.” 

“ I’ve been a widower some time,” sighed 
Horace, laying his hand on the left pocket 
of his blue swallow-tail coat. 

His costume was as droll as the girls’; fo» 
Uncle Augustus, who had figured the week 
before in some private tableaux, had a full 
Brother Jonathan suit. 

“ The man in the Moon, if you please, 
Mother Hubbard, come down to inquire the 
way to Horridge.” 


48 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“ Ah ! I’m afraid you’ve ‘ come down 
too soon.’ Didn’t you forget your whis 
kers ? 

Horace rubbed his upper lip thoughtfully. 
“ Will you inform me,” ma’am, where I can 
get a boarding-place? I’m sort of turned 
round. Growing place. Last time I was 
down, there were only a few houses here ; 
now it’s pretty thick settled back of the 
meeting-house.” 

“ I’ll take you,” said Mother Hubbard, 
putting her handkerchief to her face. 
“ How would my dog feel if he knew I had 
come to this !” 

“ Come to what, ma’am ?” 

“ Why, to Hew York, to take board- 
ers.” 

Are you in indigenous circumstances, 
madam ? And have you seen the first so- 
ciety? If so, I may possibly conclude to 


BORROWED JEWELS. 


49 


come too,” said Dotty, sweeping forward, 
and losing a hair-pin out of her chignon. 

“ O y what a fascinating creature !’’ said the 
Man in the Moon, making an eye-glass of 
his thumb and forefinger, and’gaziug at the 
lady boarder. u Are you a widow, ma’am ?” 

“Well, they don’t say nuffin’ ’bout lixin’ 
me up ! Guess I shan’t go to the party !” 
exclaimed Fly, opening and closing her eyes 
in token of outraged dignity. 

Prudy took her into auntie’s room, and 
proceeded at once to robe her in her own 
night-dress, with a lace night-cap, and a 
cologne-mat for a bib. 

“ Hollis didn’t say for me to be such a 
long baby,” sni tiled Fly, trying in vain to 
clear her feet from the trailing skirt. 

“ This is your slip, dear. You’re only a 
baby — musn’t try to walk.” 

“ Then my papa must carry me down 
4 


50 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


stairs,” said Fly, entering into the spirit of 
the play. “You tell him so — I can’t tell 
him, for I can’t talk. Argoo-goo. My 
teeth haven’t earned.” 

“If you please, Master Clifford,” said Na° 
thaniel, appearing at the head of the stairs. 
Then he stopped short with surprise, hardly 
knowing the children in their strange at- 
tire ; hut being too dignified to laugh aloud, 
added, with a grim smile, — 

“ The woman that brought Miss Fly home 
the other day is down in the dining-room, 
and says, ‘ Can she see one of the family V ” 
“ A little girl with her, Nat?” 

“Yes, sir; the blind girl is with her.” 
“And the freckled doggie !” asked “ the 
long baby,” suddenly raising her head from 
her father’s shoulder. “ I meant to told 
’em to bringed that doggie.” 

“Let’s all go down and see,” said Mother 
Hubbard. 


BORROWED JEWELS. 


51 


When they entered the dining-room, Mrs 
Brooks started up in dismay. She had left 
her sick husband, and come a long distance 
through the storm, only to find Mrs. Allen 
gone, and a parcel of children decked out 
like circus-riders. It seemed like a cruel 
mockery. 

“Beg pardon,” said she. “Maria, we’ll 
gor home now.” 

Maria was sitting near her mother, trying 
to force back the tears which would find 
their way through her closed eyes. 

“ You poor dear girl,” said Mother Hub- 
bard, going up to her, and taking her hand. 
“ My auntie was so sorry to go off* to-day, 
just when you were coming ! but she had 
to, for Uncle Augustus is sick. And it looks 
funny to you — I mean to your mother— 
to see us dressed up this way ; but auntie 
said we might, just to keep us from being 


52 


PBUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


so lonesome. And Mrs. Brooks, she wants 
you to call again the day after the day 
after to-morrow. She thinks she’ll be home 
then.” 

“ Yes’m,” struck in my Lady Magnifico ! 
“ She thinks she’ll come then with Uncle 
’Gustus. He isn’t much sick. If he was 
going to die, we wouldn’t dress up so, cer- 
tainly.” 

“No,” replied Mrs. Brooks, smiling. “It’s 
just as well ; my Maria must have patience ; 
that’s all.” 

“Patience!” thought Maria; “haven’t I 
had it, and had it? — But I do suppose 
God will attend to me when He thinks 
best. Is this what they call waiting on 
the Lord ?” 

“ When you come nex’ time, I hope you’ll 
bring that doggie,” said Fly. 

Then they went away, and the last thing 


BORROWED JEWELS. 


53 


Maria listened to was Fly’s melodious 
voice; and the last thing Fly looked at 
was Mrs. Brooks’s nose moving up and 
down. 


54 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


CHAPTER IV. 

GOING TO HOUSEKEEPING. 

It was nearly noon before Mrs. Fixfax 
had made her room ready for housekeep- 
ing. She turned up her bed into a press 
that stood beside the wall, brought in a 
high chair, a small rocking chair, two otto- 
mans, some pictures and picture-books, and 
nearly all the curiosities she could find in 
the house. A cunning little cooking-stove, 
highly polished, was set against the chim- 
ney, and the drollest shovel and tongs 
seemed to be making “ dumb love” to each 
other across the fireplace, like a black 
Punch and Judy. Then there was a pair 


GOING TO HOUSEKEEPING. 


55 


of brazen-faced bellows, hanging, nose down- 
ward, on a brass nail ; a large table in one 
corner, with a cake-board on it, and near it 
a cupboard made out of an old clothes- 
press, with dishes in it, and flour, sugar, 
raisins, spices, rolling-pin, “ aerating egg- 
beater/’ yellow bowls, wooden spoons, and 
everything that could be needed in cooking 
for a very large family. There were five 
rugs spread on the carpet, and a large oil- 
cloth under the stove. Last, but not least, 
Mrs. Fixfax brought Mrs. Allen’s tortoise- 
shell cat, and set her in a stuffed chair by 
the west window. 

Then she called the children ; and Mother 
Hubbard and Lady Magnifico rushed in, fol- 
lowed by the Man in the Moon and his baby. 

“ Good morning, all ; I hope I see you 
well,” said Mrs. Fixfax, as sober as Nathan- 
iel himself. “ This room is yours as long 


56 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


as yon like. Make yourselves perfectly at 
home.” 

“ Thank you ever so much,” replied Moth- 
er Hubbard, bobbing her bead, while the 
“ pillow-sham ” ruffles waved this way and 
that, like a field of ripe grain. 

‘‘Whenever you want anything, just ring 
this bell, and I will come; or, if you ring 
the other one, it will bring Rachel. And, 
Miss Prudy, here is the ‘Young House- 
keeper’s Friend ; ’ perhaps you would like 
to look it over.” 

Mother Hubbard blushed to her cap-bor- 
der, and took the book with another “ Thank 
you ever so much,” but did not know what 
else to say to such a dignified woman. 

The truth was, Mrs. Fixfax was trying so 
hard to keep from laughing, that her man- 
ner was rather stiff and cold. 

“ I have left the ventilator open,” thought 


GOING TO HOUSEKEEPING. 


57 


she. “ The children are full of talk, and I 
don’t want to lose a word. Besides, Mrs. 
Allen would consider it safer for me to 
know all that’s going on.” 

“ There, glad she’s gone,” said Lady Mag- 
nifico, as Mrs. Fixfax’s stately form disap- 
peared. 

“ She isn’t as pretty as the new Miss 
Fixfix. ’Spect she’s got the toothache,” 
suggested the talking infant, who was try- 
ing to lie and coo on a rug, but was unable 
to do it. 

“Well said, little Toddle; false tooth- 
ache, hey ? ” 

“Are they false, Mr. Moony? Then that 
was why she puckered up her lips so fun- 
ny,” said Mother Hubbard ; “ it was to 
keep ’em in l” 

“Yes; and take her, teeth and all, her 
face has about as much expression as a 


58 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


platter of cold hash. I’ll leave it to you 
if it hasn’t, Prue.” 

“Why, there, Miss Fixfix never asked 
me to kiss her one time,” said Fly, with 
sudden astonishment. 

“ Reckon you’d have wanted a lump of 
sugar after it, Topknot.” 

The good-natured housekeeper shook with 
laughter as she listened to these remarks 
from the next room. 

“ What a terrible creature this Miss Fix - 
fix is!” thought she. “Well, if they’ve 
got such an idea of me, I won’t try to change 
it. Hot for the rest of the day, at any rate. 
I’ll keep my distance, and let ’em work.’’ 

Mother Hubbard began to look about her 
with the mien of a housekeeper. 

“ Let us see : what are we burning here ? ” 
said she, taking off a stove-cover. “ Wood, 
I declare. Mrs. Fixfax is afraid I couldn’t 
manage coal ! ” 


GOING TO HOUSEKEEPING. 


59 


“And here’s a ’normous big box full of 
sticks,” said Lady Magnifico. “I didn’t 
s’pose wood grew in New York. What 
now, Mr. Moon? Don’t I know wood is 
sawed out of trees? Well, what you laugh- 
ing at, then ? ” 

“ Laughing, my lady? Why, who can 
help it, to see such a jolly room, big 
enough to hold a mass-meeting? That’s a 
loud-spoken clock up there. Wonder if 
Mother Hubbard notices it’s just going to 
strike twelve?” 

Prudy looked up, but did not take the 
hint. 

“ I’m so glad I remembered to bring that 
clock. I always used to tell my dog I 
prized it as much as he did his dear little 
tail. — Why, what’s burning? That child 
has scorched her slip. Do take care of her, 
Mr. — what may I call you ? — while I look 
over this cupboard.” 


60 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“Call me Dr. Moonshine, if you want to. ” 
u I’m glad I was so thoughtful as to order 
sugar/’ continued the landlady. “It’s ex- 
cellent to drop medicine on. What’s this 
in a bowl ? Ice-cream ? ” 

“ Why, don’t you know what that is ? ” 
said Lady Magnifico, sweeping along to the 
cupboard, and dipping in her dainty finger ; 
“ that’s condemned milk .’ 

“ Condensed milk, her ladyship means,” 
said the doctor, <t boiled down, you know, 
and thickened. When you make a custard 
for dinner, you’ll have to put in a tea-kettle 
full of water.” 

This was the second hint the young man 
had thrown out concerning dinner; hut 
Prudy was not to he hurried. 

“ What’s this in a little caddy ? O, it’s 
rice. No ; it’s what Dotty used to call 
coker whacker . ” 


GOING TO HOUSEKEEPING. 


61 


“ What does she call it now, may I ask? M 
said the doctor, with an irritating smile. 

“ Patti-coker — what you s’pose ? ” was the 
i ash reply. Poor Lady Magnifico ! Little 
tingles of shame ran down her fingers as 
soon as she had spoken, for she saw, by the 
glances between her landlady and the doctor, 
that she had made another mistake. 

“ 0, I like to keep house,” cried Fly, 
holding up her trailing robes, and dancing 
over a carpet seam. “ What’s this goldy 
thing ? ” 

“ Bellows, Toddlekins, to blow up the 
fire. See me fill out their leather cheeks. ” 

“ What pretty little blozers! Let me blow 
’em!” 

There was a second dash upon the stove, 
and another scorch in the slip. 

“ There ought to be a fence built round 
that stove/’ said the anxious father. 


62 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“ Come, Mother Hubbard, have you seen 
all there is in the cupboard? Can’t you 
give this poor old dog a bone? ” 

“Well, here I am with the care of the 
family on my shoulders,” thought Mother 
Hubbard, winking fast behind the green 
spectacles, and recalling uneasily the coup- 
let her father often repeated : — 

“ Think well before you pursue it ; 

But when you begin, go through it.” 

“How what’ll we have for dinner?” 

Lady Magnifico was walking languidly 
about, admiring herself in the mirror, Dr. 
Moonshine rummaging an old closet, and 
Baby pulling out the bureau drawers. 

“They have the easy part. But never 
mind ; I’ll show them what I can do. Moth- 
er says I have a great deal more taste for 
cooking than Susy has. Didn’t I make 
pickles all one vacation?” 


GOING TO HOUSEKEEPING. 


63 


Then Prudy sat down with the “ House- 
keeper's Friend,” and began at the first 
page to read. Half an hour passed, and 
no signs of her moving. 

“ I’m hunger-y,” whispered Baby, taking a 
sugar-coated pill out of a box, and touch- 
ing it with her tongue. It was sweet till 
her teeth went into it, when out rolled the 
little ball upon the floor. 

“ O, my shole! How bitter!” groaned 
she, wiping her mouth on a lace cuff. 
“ ’Spect that’s a pill, and they cooked it 
in sugar; hut I shan’t eat it.” 

“Little daughter, what are you doing 
there? Mustn’t meddle with other folks’ 
things.” Hr. Moonshine sneezed as he 
spoke, having breathed some of the “ dust 
of ages ” into his nose oft* a top shelf, where 
Mrs. Fixfax kept a few herbs. Ten min- 
utes more. The doctor stepped down from 


t 


64 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


the chair-back on which he had been stand- 
ing, and gazed hard at his landlady. She 
was turning the sixteenth page. 

“ My Lady Magnifico ! ” 

“ Sir?” 

“ My lady, do you happen to have such 
a thing as a peanut in your pocket ? ” 

My lady shook the cat out of the arm- 
chair, and seated herself. 

“ It isn’t polite to carry round peanuts.” 

“I was only thinking,” continued the doc- 
tor, with a side glance at Mother Hubbard, 
a how nice a peanut would be to keep any- 
body from fainting away.” 

Mother Hubbard started from her chair. 
u What unfashionable boarders ! You don’t 
expect dinner in the middle of the day, I 
hope! In the city of Hew York we don’t 
have it till five or six o’clock. I’m afraid 
you came down too soon, Dr. Moonshine.’ 


GOING TO HOUSEKEEPING. 


65 


“ At raid I did. Wish I was ‘the man in 
the South.’ I’dlike to ‘ burn my mouth’ on 
a little 6 cold plum porridge.’ ” 

“ Haven’t any for you ; but I’ll give you 
a lunch. What fay to omelettes and cof- 
fee ? ” 

“ Excellent,” said Dr. Moonshine, reviving. 

“ Exquisite,” drawled my lady. 

“Exquit” quoth Fly. 

u Only there isn’t any coffee,” said Mother 
Hubbard, going to the cupboard. 

“ Call it tea,” said the doctor, “and hurry 
up.” 

“No, chocolate is better. How do you 
make chocolate?” said the landlady, turn- 
ing to her cook-book. 

“ I don’t know, and don’t care,” fumed 
the doctor. “Baked in a slow oven, most 
likely, with a top crust. Let the chocolate 
slide.” 


5 


66 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“Well, I will. And now I’ll make the 
omelette. Eggs ? yes ; there are eggs 
enough; hut dear me, where’s the milk? 
This condemned kind my lady tells about 
won’t do to make omelettes. I shouldn’t 
dare try it.” 

“ Well, well, give us a little bread and 
butter. I’ve got past being particular.” 

“ 0, Dr. Moonshine, such biscuits as I’m • 
going to bake for you at five o’clock ! But 
now I really can’t find a speck of bread ! ” 

“I’ll warrant it! I always heard that 
when old Mother Hubbard went to her 
cupboard she found the shelves were all 
bare.” 

“ Then you needn’t have come here to 
board. Won’t crackers and raisins do?’’ 

They had to do; and the boarders tried 
to be satisfied in view of the coming dinner. 

All the afternoon Mother Hubbard spent 


GOING TO HOUSEKEEPING. 


67 


between the cake-board and the mouth of 
the oven. 

“ Queen of the rolling-pin, can’t yon 
hush up this fire ?” said Dr. Moonshine, 
looking at the thermometer; “ we’re nearly 
up to ‘butter melts,’ and I suppose you 
know that’s ninety degrees.” 

“Dr. Moonshine,” replied Mother Hub- 
bard, nervously, “I can’t help it if the but- 
ter does melt. We’ve got to have some- 
thing to eat.” 

“ Papa, pin up my dress,” said the baby. 
“ I want to do sumpin. I want some pastry 
to paste a book with.” 

“ You’re a real failure, Toddlekins. Your 
teeth have come, and you talk and keep talk- 
ing. I’m afraid Mother Hubbard will charge 
me full price for your board. You hear 
what she calls for, ma’am ? Can you make 
her a little paste? Here’s an old Patent 
Office Report; and I’ll run the risk of her 


68 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


spoiling it. I’ll cut some pictures for her 
out of these papers.” 

“ Lucky I don’t keep a file of my news- 
papers,” thought Mrs. Fixfax, listening from 
the next room. “ If I did, those children 
would hear from m ” 

“Yes, I’ll max her some paste,” said 
Mother Hubbard, d opping the aerating egg- 
beater, and setting the spice-box on the 
stove. 

Dr. Moonshine laughed. Mother Hubbard 
had never dreamed a boarder could be so 
disagreeable. She snatched off the spice- 
box, and setting a kettle on the stove, 
boiled paste enough to paper the walls of a 
room. 

Meanwhile Fly was making free with the 
nutmegs and soda, and the little cook could 
not remember how far along she had got 
with the cake. 


GOING TO HOUSEKEEPING. 


63 


“ Children don’t annoy you, I hope,” said 
the doctor, seating the baby at the side of 
the table, opposite Mother Hubbard, and 
giving her a stick with a rag wound around 
the end of it, in order to paste pictures into 
a scrap-book. 

“ Thank you, doctor. I never did like 
children half as well as dogs/’ replied Moth- 
er Hubbard, forcing a smile. Then she 
tasted her cake slyly, to make sure whether 
she had put the butter in or not. 

“ Madam Hubbard, mim,” said Lady 
Magnifico, “ may 1 trouble you for a glass 
of water ?” 

“ Mamma Hubbard, may I have a hangfiss 
to wipe off the pastry ?” 

Old Mother Hubbard went to the cup- 
board, and got a goblet for the lady ; to 
the closet, and found a rag for the baby. 

By that time she smelt something buri* 


TO 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


ing ; it was eggs. She had left the patent 
egg-heater on the stove by accident, and its 
contents were as black as a shoe. 

“0, what a frightful, alarming odor!’’ 
cried Lady Magnifico. “ If somebody 
doesn’t throw up a window ! Madam, do 
tell us what’s afire now !” 

“ Mother Hubbard’s got a dumb chill,” 
said the doctor ; “ she won’t speak.” 

But Prudy was saying under breath, 
“ Please, God, let me keep pleasant. They 
don’t mean any harm, and I should be 
ashamed to get angry just about a 
play.” 

u What ails you, Mother Hubbard ? 
‘ You look as blue as the skimmiest kiud 
of skim-milk.’ ” 

“Do I? Well, no wonder, with such 
troublesome boarders. Suppose you and 
my lady go down to the parlor. I don’t 


GOING TO HOUSEKEEPING. 


71 


believe I’m a bit interesting, you know. 
I’ll call you when dinner is ready.” 

“Agreed ! Sharp five, remember.” 

“ There,” said Mother Hubbard, taking 
off her spectacles ; “ now I can cook.” 

Could she ? 

“Little folks we is to keep house — isn’t 
we ?” buzzed the little torment that was left 
behind. “ Hush ! don’t you talk, Trudy. 
When you shake the table, then I make 
blots with my pastry.” 

Prudy said nothing, but thoughtfully 
tasted the cake again. How could she tell 
whether she had left out the soda ? 

“Are you blind of your ears , Prudy, 
Can’t you hear nuflin what I say? Eag’s 
come off* the stick. Please to tie it on. 
And I want to eat some o’ that dough.” 

Mother Hubbard did her blundering best ; 
but ill luck seemed to pursue the cooking. 


72 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“Needn’t call that book the ‘Young 
Housekeeper’s Friend.’ It’s an enemy, a 
real bitter enemy,’’ cried she, in great ex- 
citement. “Wood is hotter than coal, too. 
Mrs. Fixfax must have given it to me to 
plague me. IIow it does burn things up ! 
I hope beefsteak is cheap. I won’t ask 
anybody to eat this, all covered with ashes. 
I’ll never try to broil any again on top of a 
stick of wood ! I won’t try that ‘ steamboat 
pudding.’ Sounds as if ’twould burn, and 
I know it would. Let ’em go without 
pudding.” 

After the most tiresome afternoon she had 
ever spent in her life, Mother Hubbard went 
down with Fly, whom she dared not leave 
by herself, to call her boarders to dinner. 


MOTHER HUBBARD S DINNER. 




CHAPTER V. 

MOTHER HUBBARD’S DINNER. 

This was Mrs. Allen’s “ reception-day,” 
the day on which she always staid at 
home, that her friends might be sure of 
finding her in. 

“ Not at home,” Nathaniel had kept say 
ing to visitors that afternoon. But one 
of them, a queenly-looking lady, would 
not be satisfied with the answer. 

“Are the children here ?” demanded she. 
“Those nieces and nephews?” 

Nathaniel did not know exactly what 
reply to make; so he invited the lady into 
the parlor, and went to inquire. 


74 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


Dr. Moonshine and Lady Magnifico were 
in the drawing-room, looking over engrav- 
ings. 

u Gnat, gnat, you troublesome insect,” 
said the doctor. 44 I heard auntie tell you 
we were not to be disturbed.” 

“ But what could I say ?” asked the in- 
sect, humbly. “ I couldn’t tell her 4 not 
at home.’” 

44 You must say, 4 Beg to be excused;’ 
those are the proper words,” said my lady. 

44 Y es,” added the doctor ; go, there’s 
a good gnat, and sting ’em like sixty, if 
they don’t start quick.” 

Nathaniel obeyed, looking as dignified 
as ever, though nothing but a strong sense 
of propriety kept him from smiling. 

He had not crossed the hall before 
Mother Hubbard entered the parlor, drag- 
ging Fly, who was pinned to her skirts. 


mother iiubbard’s dinner. 


75 


Mother Hubbard was flushed and excited, 
her nose dusted with flour, her cap pulled 
entirely over her forehead; and she was 
saying, in a loud tone, “ I can’t take any 
peace of my life, Fly Clifford, you know 
I can’t, unless I get you fastened some- 
how.” 

“I don’t ’low folks to fassin me,” re- 
sponded Fly, shaking her lace cap in a 
blaze of wrath ; “ the next that fassins me, 
I’ll scwatch who did it ! ” 

It was not at all like either of the chil- 
dren to talk in this way, any more than 
it was like them to be dressed in such 
ridiculous costume. The effect upon the 
lady visitor was quite startling. She 
started, smiled, rose from her chair, and 
held out her hand. 

“Now tell me if this isn’t Miss Prudy 
Parlin. I have seen your picture, my 

love.” 


76 


PHUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


What eyes, to spy out a likeness under 
all the flour and furbelows, not to mention 
the green spectacles ! Prudy quivered like 
a frightened mouse, hut could not get 
away, for a trap was sprung upon her; a 
steel-gloved hand was holding her fast. 

“I am Madam PragofFyetski, a Polish 
runaway. You may not have heard of me, 
but I know all about Prudy and little This- 
tledown Flyaway.” 

“Nicely, thank you, m’m,” responded 
Miss Fly, in a voice as faint as the peep 
of a chicken ; at the same time darting 
forward and tearing a piece out of her 
slip. “If she runned away I’d be ’shamed 
to tell of it.” 

“ How awful for her to come here ! ” 
thought Mother Hubbard, stealing a timid 
glance at the lady’s ermine muff. “ She 
looks nice, but I don’t want anything to do 
with such people.” 


mtoher iiubbard’s dinner. 


77 


“ Don’t be afraid of me, dears,” said 
the lady, laughing ; “ I call myself a run- 
away just in sport. I am a warm admirer 
of yours, and my dear friend, your auntie, 
has promised me a visit from you. I 
came on purpose to ask you, and your 
sister, and your cousins to my house to 
dinner to-morrow. Will you come ? ” 

Mother Huhhard gazed doubtfully at the 
steel-colored glove. What could she say? 

“ Thank you ever so much, Mrs. — Mrs. 
PradigofF, hut Fly is not allowed to go 
out.” 

Flyaway was greatly chagrined. 

“Well, I — I solomon promised,” said 
she, casting down her guilty eyes, as she 
remembered the orange man; “I solomon 
promised I would’t go ou’ doors, athoui 
somebody lets me.” 

“ There’s a tender conscience for you/’ 


78 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


laughed the Polish lady. “ Why was she 
not to go out, Miss Prudy? ” 

u Because she is so quick-motioned, 
ma’am. Before you know it she’s lost. 
That’s the reason I pinned her to my 
dress. You see, ma’am, we are playing 
4 keep house.’ ” 

“ O, if her quickness is all the trouble, 
Pll take the responsibility that she shan’t 
get lost. I’ll bind her fast with a silken 
chain. Really, children, my heart is set on 
your coming. My house is full of things 
that make a noise — a canary, a paroquet, 
a mocking-bird, a harp, a piano, and a 
guitar. And — ” 

Mrs. PragofF did not add that she had 
invited a little party to meet them. She 
was afraid of frightening the timid souls. 

“ Would you like to come, Miss Prudy? 
Tell me honestly, now.” 


mother iiubbard’s dinner. 


79 


There was no need to ask Fly. She 
was dancing for joy— the absurd little 
image. 

“O, yes’m; I’d he delighted,” replied 
Mother Hubbard, a smile lighting up her 
face even to the floury tip of her nose., 
“And I think Horace and Dotty would, 
too. Shall I go and ask?” 

Yes, Horace and Dotty were both 
pleased with the idea. 

“She’s a foreigner,” said Prudy, doubt- 
fully; “but she talks our language beauti- 
fully. She’s a dear friend of auntie’s, too.” 

“What I object to,” said Horace, “is 
taking Toddlekins ; but I may possibly 
hire her to stay at home.” 

It was finally decided that Mrs. Pragofl 
should call next day and take the children 
to church with her, and thence home to a 
Christmas dinner. She laughed, as she 


80 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


rolled away in her carriage, thinking what 
droll figures they were, and how Prudy 
blinked through her glasses. 

“ So I shan’t have to cook but one meal 
more, and that will be breakfast,” thought 
Mother Hubbard, her tired heart leaping 
up with something like joy. 

They sat down to dinner at last. 

“ Tea urn been standing on the table all 
this while ?” asked Hr. Moonshine, resum- 
ing his critical manners ; “ ’twould take the 
tea some time to freeze on here, Mrs. Hub- 
bard, if that is what you’re trying to do 
with it !” 

Mrs. Hubbard pretended not to hear. 

“ She’s blind of her ears, papa ; you 
have to speak loud.” 

“ What makes your child’s face so red, 
doctor?” asked the landlady, pouring hot 
water till it overran the cup ; “ don’t the 
darling feel well ?” 


MOTHER HUBBARD S DINNER. 


81 


“ Yes’m, pitty well; only but the white 
tea gets in my cheeks and makes ’em too 
hot.” 

“ White tea, I should think,” remarked 
Dr. Moonshine; “why, Mother Hubbard, 
the tea-leaf in your urn must feel rather 
lonesome.” 

Mother Hubbard took off the cover and 
peeped in. 

“ Hone there, as true as you live ! I’ll 
jump right up, doctor, and stew two or 
three handfuls.” 

“ Don’t rise for me, ma’am ; don’t rise 
for me. We’ll swallow the will for the 
deed, ma’am; the will for the deed.” 

“It’s always so, doctor,” said Lady 
Magnifico, in an undertone ; “ we’ve had 
to swallow these mistakes from time im- 
mortal.” 

Her ladyship meant “ immemorial.” She 
6 


82 PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 

was surprised at the ease with which she 
used large words. 

“All the mistakes are owing to the ec- 
centricity of genius,” said the doctor, bow- 
ing to Mother Hubbard. “ Our landlady 
is what is called ‘absent.’ Here’s a health 
to our absent friend.” 

“You’ll have to excuse the biscuit,” said 
Mother Hubbard, nervously. “ I mixed 
’em too tight, and I think the flour’s half 
corn, they look so yellow ; it can't be . all 
soda.” 

“I presume not all soda; some mixture 
of flour and water. But where are they, 
ma’am ?” 

“ 0, I put them in the cupboard. I 
thought you’d like crackers better.” 

“ But these are the mizzerble kind, that 
don’t split,” said Lady Magnifico, in tragic 
tones ; “ I told you so to-day noon.” 


MOTHER HUBBARD’S DINNER. 


83 


“ Stop a minute, Miss Hubbard ; my 
coflee’s too sour,” cried the youngest, de- 
termined to scowl as hard as Dotty did, 
if it was a possible thing. 

The worried landlady passed the sugar, 
and the small boarder corrected the sour- 
ness of her white tea with three teaspoon- 
fuls, heaping measure. 

“ My little Toddlekins is eating nothing.” 
said the doctor. “ I hope her red cheeks 
don’t indicate fever.” 

“ There’s great quantities of sickness just 
now among children,” said Lady Magnifi- 
co, crooking her little finger genteelly. 
“ Nervous Exhaustation is going about.” 

“ Nervous what, my lady ? ” 

“ Exhaustation. I am well acquainted 
with a lady in the first society that had it 
dreadfully. She called in twenty-five doc- 
tors, if my memory preserves me right; 
and then she like to died.” 


84 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“You know it for a fact, my lady? I 
hope it won’t come here (or the doctors 
either). Is it catching, Dr. Moonshine?” 

“Well, yes, Mother Hubbard; it’s apt 
to catch fine ladies. Goes hard with ’em, 
too.” 

“ Ah me, then I’ll never dare go out,” 
drawled Lady Magnifico, looking at her 
rings. 

Here Mother Hubbard timidly passed 
the cake. “ White Mountain ; but I sus- 
pect it’s a poor rule.” 

“ A poor rule that don’t work both ways, 
hey ? If this was ever white, ma’am, 
’t wasn’t a fast color ; faded to a rusty 
black. And as to it’s being a mountain, 
ma’am, it looks to me like a pretty hollow 
valley.” 

“I’m so sorry, doctor! But your little 


mother hubbard’s dinner. 


85 


girl dusted my soda over the cat, and that 
was why the cake didn’t rise.” 

“ Just so, ma’am; but did the cat rise ? w 

“ 0, Dr. Moonshine, I see you’re mak- 
ing fun of my cooking. And now I’ll tell 
you something more. I got the butter 
ready, and forgot to put it in, and that’s 
why the cake’s so tough.” 

“Never mind,” said the doctor, very 
amiable as long as he could make his joke. 
“ It is pretty tough cake, ma’am ; but it’s 
always tougher where there’s none. 

“ There’s one thing about it,” said Moth- 
er Hubbard, a little relieved ; “ it’s sweet 
in the middle, and you needn’t eat the 
bitter part, where it’s burnt.” 

“ It’s my practice to mix the bitter with 
the sweet,” said the doctor, waving the but- 
ter-knife. “In this way, Mother H., your 
black- valley cake is almost as good as pills. M 


66 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


« I ate a pill,” observed Fly, “ and ’twas 
worser’n this ! ” 

You ate a pill, child? When ? Where? 
I’ll warrant that’s what ails you.” 

“ No, it don’t ail me now. I spitted it 
out.” 

After nibbling a few crackers, and the 
inside of the cake, the happy family moved 
away from the table, hungrier than when 
they had sat down. 

“ What is home without a mother ? ” 
sang Horace, in a plaintive voice ; and 
Dotty joined in, with emphasis. 

Prudy looked as low-spirited as the 

black-valley cake.” 

“I hope Uncle Augustus will be able to 
come home to-morrow. I declare, we are 
real cruel not to feel worse about his 
being sick away off there in a hotel.” 

“ You’d better believe he gets things to 


MOTHER HUBBARDS DINNER. 


87 


eat,” responded Lady Magnifico, aside t <s 
the doctor. “ I’d rather be some sick than 
have a landlady that’s purblind and pur- 
deaf, and such owdrageous poor cooking ! 
Glad I’m going out to Christmas dinner.” 


88 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE- 


CHAPTER VI. 

PRUDY IN A NEW LIGHT. 

Mother Hubbard was heated, and tired, 
and hungry, and cross. It was all very 
well for a lady boarder to loll on an otto- 
man, play with her rings, and find fault. 
It was all very well for a gentleman 
boarder to fire poor jokes ; hut they 
couldn’t either of them know how 7 every 
word cut like a lash. When the doctor 
said, carelessly, “ Some people think them- 
selves great cooks, my lady ; but the proof 
of the pudding’s in the eating,” why, that 
speech was “ the pin in the end of the 
lash.” 


PRUDY IN A NEW LIGHT. 


89 


Prudy saw now that she had pretended 
to know a great deal more than she really 
did. Pretension is very apt to get laughed 
at. She had always scorned Dotty’s self- 
conceit ; but hadn’t she shown quite as 
much herself? Making her auntie suppose 
she understood cooking, and putting Mrs. 
Fixfax to all this trouble for nothing ? 
How horrified auntie would he, and the 
housekeeper too, if they should dream that 
this little family was starving, with a cook- 
book lying open on the floor ! 

“ But I declare, it’s real mean in you 
two to make fun of me,” cried the young 
landlady, tipping the sugar-basin plump 
into the dish-tub; “you couldn’t get any 
better supper yourselves, nor half so good ; 
so there !” 

Surprised at the sharp sound of her 
own voice, dismayed at sight of the wet 


90 


PKUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


sugar, and completely discouraged by the 
aspect of things in general, Prudy burst out 
into a sort of frenzy. She was ashamed 
of herself, but she couldn’t stop. 

“You think I can bear everything,— 
you and Dotty both ! People are careful 
what they say to Dotty, for her temper’s 
just like live coals ; but they talk to me, 
and say anything ; anything they’ve a mind 
to.” 

“ Why, Prue,” exclaimed Horace, as as- 
tonished as if Mother Hubbard’s dog had 
spoken ; “ why, Prue ! ” 

“Yes, you think it’s awful if I speak; 
but sometimes it seems as if I should bite 
my tongue out.” 

“ Don’t, Prudy,” exclaimed Dotty, look- 
ing on with awe and alarm, as if there had 
been a sudden eclipse of the sun ; “ I didn’t 
mean to.” 


PRUDY IN A NEW LIGHT. 


91 


“Don’t Prudy,” said Fly, clutching at 
the brown dress; “and I’ll give you sum- 
pin what I buy.” 

There is an old saying, “Beware the 
fury of a patient man.” Prudy had tried 
all day to 

“Smile and smile, 

While secret wounds were eating at her heart ; ” 

but now she could scarcely bear the touch 
of little Fly’s hand. She did not care 
what she said, if she could only find 
words bitter enough. 

“I always have to bear, and bear, and 
bear. Nobody else does. I’ve noticed 
how different it is with Susy. She frets, 
and then people let her alone. And Dot- 
ty, how she tosses up her head like Aunt 
Martha’s horse Lightning-Dodger ! Haven’t 
I always pacified Dotty, and humored her? 
Had to alter the play to suit her. And 


92 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


what does that child know or care, an;y 
more than if I was a common sister, that 
hadn’t been giving up, and giving up, and 
giving up , ever since she was born ?” 

Prudy ’s cap-strings shook violently, her 
teeth chattered, and the sharp words 
seemed to rattle out like hail-stones. Hor- 
ace had never seen her in such a mood, 
and was half inclined to run away; hut 
when she took her hands down from her 
face, and he saw how pale she was, his 
heart was moved. 

“Come, Prue, you’re sick abed; ghat’s 
what’s the matter. Lie down, and let that 
lazy Dot take off her diamonds, and go 
to work.” 

Prudy dropped upon the sofa and cov- 
ered her face with her handkerchief, while 
Dotty, strange to relate, actually slid the 
rings off her fingers and thumbs, and began 
to put away the crackers 


PRUDY IN A NEW LIGHT. 


93 


“ 0, dear,” thought Prudy, blushing undei 
the cap-border, spectacles, and handker- 
chief; “what did possess me to talk so? 
I had been holding in all day; why did J 
let go? If I ever do let go, I can’t stop; 
and 0, how shameful it is ! ” 

It seemed as easy for Prudy to he good 
as for a bird to sing; hut it was not so. 
She had a great deal of human nature, 
after all. She liked her own way, hut 
she never had it unless Dotty was willing. 
Was that a pleasant way to live? If you 
think so, dears, just try it. The secret 
of Prudy’s sweetness was really this: In 
all trials she was continually saying, under 
breath, “Please, God, keep me from doing 
wrong.” She had found that was really 
the only way — the only safe way. 

“Everybody calls me amiable. They 
wouldn’t if they knew how I have to gri$ 


94 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


my teeth together to keep from scolding. 
I like to be called amiable, but nobody’ll 
do it again ; and Horace sees now I’m 
not the girl be thought I was.” 

All Prudy’s hail-stones of wrath had 
melted into tear-drops, and she was sobbing 
them into her handkerchief. She did not 
clearly know whether she was crying be- 
cause she had done wrong, or because 
Horace would see she “was not the girl 
he had thought she was.” 

“Bless your dear little soul,” said Dr. 
Moonshine, kneeling before her, while his 
blue swallow-tails swept the floor, “you’ve 
told the truth. Everybody knows Dot’s 
a spitfire, and you’re an angel; and she 
does impose upon you most abominably.” 

Dotty stood staring, with a plate in her 
hand, too much astonished to defend her* 
self. 


PRUDY IN A NEW LIGHT. 


95 


“And I’m ashamed of firing so many 
jokes at you, Prue ; I am so. I’m a great 
joker (he meant a great wit /), hut this 
is the first time I ever mistrusted you 
cared — you always take things so like a 
lamb, — or you’d better believe I wouldn’t 
have done it. For there isn’t a girl in the 
world I like so well as I do you, nor 
begin to.” 

“ O, Hollis,” moaned the little one* 
stirred by sudden jealousy. 

“Ilullelo! I forgot you, Topknot. — 
You’re my heart’s jewel; that’s generally 
understood. When I say I like Prue, I 
mean next after you.” 

The jealous Fly was satisfied, and folded 
her little wings against Horace’s breast. 
Prudy felt greatly soothed, hut her cap- 
strings were still shaking, and she could 
not trust her voice to speak. Nothing 


96 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


more was said for some time. Dotty 
clattered away at the dishes, kitty purred 
by the stove, and Horace rocked his little 
sister, who clung about his neck like an 
everlasting pea. Presently he stopped 
rocking, and exclaimed, — 

“ Why, what’s the matter with my Toddle- 
kins ? What makes her breathe so short ?” 

“ My froat’s short ; that’s what is it,” 
replied the little philosopher, closing her 
eyes, as if she did not choose to talk. 

“ But how does your throat feel, Top- 
knot?” * 

“Feels bad; why?” 

“ Girls, this child has a sore throat, and 
a high fever. Her hands are as hot as 
pepper.” 

Dotty wrung the dish-cloth tragically. 

“ She’s going to have the measles ; you 
see’f she don’t.” 


PRUDY IN A NEW LIGHT. 


97 


“ Hush !” said Prudy. springing up, and 
tucking back her sleeves. “ Let’s give her 
a warm bath. That’s what mother does 
when we are sick, before ever she sends 
lor the doctor.” 

“ I’d rawer have a turkey -wash” said Fly, 
rousing a little, and then dropping her head 
again. 

“ There, she’s lost her senses ; I knew 
she would,” said Dotty, walking the floor. 

“ Do stop that, Dot. She has her senses 
as clear as you have. When she says 
turkey -wash, she means a Turkish bath ; it 
takes me to interpret. She had a very 
gentle Turkish bath once. Liked it — 
didn’t you, Fly? Can’t you rub her real 
hard with a crash towel, girls? That will 
be almost as good.” 

“ Of course we can,” said Prudy, forget- 
ting her gust of indignation entirely; “ and 


98 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


what could he nicer than this little bath- 
room, with the silver faucets and ivory 
tuh. Come, Fly, and have your turkey- 
wash. ’Twill make you feel a great deal 
better.” 

After a nice hath, at which Prudy and 
Dotty presided, the little one was dressed 
in her nightie, and set on her brother’s 
knee again. 

“ Prudy said I’d feel better to be baved,” 
said she, looking thoughtfully at the gas- 
light; “but now- 1 was baved, and I don’t 
feel any diffunt ; I feel just’s I did by- 
fore.” 

“ When can she have taken such a 
-jold ?” said Horace; “don’t you see, Prue, 
she can’t breathe out of her nose ?” 

Then Fly remembered the orange-man, 
and something made her face grow red in 
a minute ; but it was not the white tea. 


PEUDY IN A NEW LIGHT. 


99 


''Pitiful about my Bigness,” sighed she, 
and thought she would never, never tell 
of her own disobedience. But Horace saw 
the blush and heard the sigh. 

“ I am glad Fly always minds,” said he, 
looking straight into the little guilty face. 
“For God sees everything she does,” 
whispered he, solemnly. 

Horace never spoke of such subjects to 
other people; you would not suppose they 
were much in his mind ; but to this precious 
little sister he gave his best thoughts, so far 
as he could make her understand them. 
“For God sees everything she does ” 

Fly did not speak for as much as a 
minute, and then she said, timidly, — 

“ Hollis, I want to ask you sumpin ; 
does God wear spetticles?” 

“Ho, dear; no, indeed.” 

“ 0, I thought He did.” 


100 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“ Bat He sees us in the light and in the 
dark, Topknot.” 

The child winced. 

“ Can He see Hisself athout looking in 
the glass ?” 

“ Yes, I suppose so.” 

“ Then, when I go np to God, I’ll find 
He has four eyes, — two to see Hisself, 
and two to see other things. 0, dear, 
I'm so sick, I guess I will go up to 
God.” 

The housekeeper was listening from the 
next room. 

“ That child’s voice is growing hoarse. 
I must go and look into this business,” 
thought she. 

She knocked at the children’s door. 

“ I came to ask if I can do anything 
for you, young ladies.” 

Mrs. Fixfax had heard a great deal of 


PRUDY IN A NEW LIGHT. 


101 


the play, and had been in a state of amuse- 
ment all day, without seeing the actors ; 
and when she caught sight of them now, 
she had to twist her mouth very hard, 
u to keep her teeth in.” 

The magnificent Lady Magnifico, the 
ridiculous Dr. Moonshine, and the be- 
capped Mother Hubbard, all replied in 
chorus, “ 0, yes’m, we were going to ring 
for you. Do you see what ails the baby.” 

Mrs. Fixfax approached the child in 
such a tender, motherly way, that Horace 
was ashamed of having compared her face 
to “a platter of cold hash.” She had 
a strong, sensible look, as if she were 
capable of carrying a whole hospital full 
of children through all sorts of diseases ; 
and Prudy and Horace, who had begun 
to have an unpleasant feeling of responsi 
bility, were greatly relieved. 


102 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“You don’t think it’s anything but a 
cold — do you, Mrs. Fixfax ? I don’t know 
much about sickness.” 

Mrs. Fixfax allowed herself to smile 
this time, as her eye rested on the Mother 
Hubbard cap. 

“ Ho, I don’t see anything alarming yet. 
If this was my child, I should just gargle 
her throat with salt and water, wrap 
a pork rind round her neck, and put her 
to bed.” 

Fly objected to nothing, if she could 
only sleep with her own brother Hollis. 
When told she might do so, she tried to 
clap her hands ; but her heart was heavy, 
and her throat was sore ; so all she could 
do was to kiss him and cry. 

“And now, my dears, how do you en- 
joy housekeeping ?” asked Mrs. Fixfax, 
carelessly, as she attended to Fly’s throat 


PRUDY IN A NEW LIGHT. 


103 


“ No — ot very much,” returned Dr Moon- 
shine, faintly ; for no one else seemed 
ready to speak. “ Rather hard on the 
head of the family. Don’t you say so, 
Prue ? ” 

But Prudy could not answer, on account 
of a throbbing at the roots of her tongue. 

“ I see you have been taking an early 
dinner,” confined Mrs. Fixfax, very cool- 
ly, as if she had no idea the children before 
her were half starved. 

“Ye — es’m.” 

“So, perhaps you wouldn’t object to 
going down and finishing off on roast tur- 
key ? I ordered the table set for you.” 

“ You did ? 0, thank you, ma’am ! ” 

cried Lady Magnifico, ready to throw her- 
self on the housekeeper’s neck. 

“I never object to roast turkey my- 
self,” said the doctor, his eyes gleaming 
with delight. 


104 


PKUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


Mother Hubbard said nothing; but she 
thought she should relish a good dinner 
as well as her boarders. They all went 
down but Fly, who was by this time fast 
asleep in Mrs. Fixfax’s arms. 

“I reckon the servants thought we’d 
been wrecked on a desert island, by the 
dash we made at that turkey,” whispered 
Horace, as they returned to the house- 
keeper’s room. 

“How good you were, Horace Clifford, 
not to tell Mrs. Fixfax about my awful 
cooking.” 

“ And I didn’t tell, either,” said Dotty. 
“ But wasn’t it mizzerble ?'* 

As if Mrs. Fixfax didn’t know, and 
wasn’t that very minute laughing over the 
“ tight biscuit ” and low-spirited cake ! 


A FLY IN TRINITY CHURCH. 


105 


CHAPTER VII. 

A FLY IN TRINITY CHURCH. 

The children went to bed that night 
cheered by a remark which Mrs. Fixfax 
dropped as if by accident. 

“ The cook is to fry buckwheat cakes in 
the morning. I dare say you would like 
omelettes, too. Do you drink chocolate?” 

“ 8he takes it for granted we are going to 
eat down stairs,” thought Prudy. And now 
her troubles were over. Life bloomed be- 
fore her once more like a garden of roses. 

Horace did not rest remarkably well. In 
the first place, the bed was too warm. Mrs. 
Fixfax had rolled Fly into a big bundle, 


106 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


with nothing out but the end of her nose, 
and was toasting her with soapstones. 

“ Buried alive,” Horace said, “ with grave- 
stones at her head and feet.” 

“ I’m all of a personation ,” gasped the 
child. “ My mamma never did me so, Hol- 
lis. She gave me little tinty tonty pills, — 
sugar clear through, — not the big ones 
Miss Fixfix eats.” 

“Well, lie still, Topknot, and don’t roll 
•towards me.” 

For an hour or two Fly lay gasping ; then 
she said, softly, — 

“ Hollis, Hollis, is He looking now ?” 

“Yes, dear; but don’t be afraid of the 
good God.” 

“ I didn’t, Hollis, if I wasn’t naughty. 
When I’m good I’m willin’ He should look.” 

“ Haughty, Topknot ? ” 

“Yes, Hollis; I Solomon promised I 


A FLY IN TRINITY CHURCH. 


107 


wouldn’t go ou’ doors ; but that new Miss 
Fixfix, she let me gwout, athout nuffin on 
my head, V I got a awful cold.’’ 

“0, little Fly ! ” 

“ I know it, Hollis. I was defful sorry all 
the time. I ate oilinges, too ; so for course 
I got the sore froat.” 

“ Fm glad you told me, Fly ; now I know 
what ails you. But you mustn’t ever dis- 
obey again.” 

“Yes, um,” said Fly, rolling towards her 
brother, and crying till the tears ran down 
on the flannel which was bound around 
her neck. A few moments after she whis- 
kered, — 

“Now I don’t feel any ’fraid, Hollis ; I’ve 
telled God. I feel better, V I’m willin’ He 
should look.” 

“Well, then, dear, that’s right — go to 
sleep.” 


108 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“And now, Hollis, do you s’pose He’ll 
send my spirrick back to me ? ” 

“ What are you talking about, Topknot ? 
Your spirit’s in your body, child. Go to 
sleep.” 

“ Ho, it isn’t in my body, too ! I want 
my nice good little spirrick to come back,” 
murmured the child. “Auntie said ’twould 
stay to me if I’s good.” 

Fly was thinking of her unseen guardian 
angel. 

It was a troubled night for Horace. Fly 
waked him no less than three times, to ask 
him if she had the measles. 

“Ho, child, no; don’t wake me for that 
again.” 

“ Well, you ought to not go to sleep ’fore 
I do. You’re a fast boy, Hollis ! ” 

Morning came, and Fly was rather lan- 
guid, as might have been expected after 
such a night. 


A FLY IN TRINITY CHURCH. 


100 


“ I don’t see,” mused Mrs. Fixfax, “ where 
she caught this dreadful cold, unless it was 
your keeping the room so hot yesterday, 
children.” 

Fly hid her face in her brother’s back 
hair, for she was riding pickaback down 
stairs. 

“And can we go to see that Poland 
lady V” said Dotty. 

“ If you asked me, I answer, No,” said 
Horace, bluntly. “At any rate, Fly mustn’t 
stir a step out of the house to-day.” 

“ I didn’t ask you, Horace. I asked Mrs. 
Fixfax. She is the one that ha3 the care 
of us.” 

“ I really don’t know what to say about 
it,” replied the housekeeper, hesitating. 
“We will wait and see how she seems 
after breakfast.” 

“ Rather a cool way of setting my opinion 
one side,” thought Horace, indignantly. 


110 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


Fly ate only two small buckwheat cake3, ' 
but seemed lively enough, as she always 
did when there was a prospect of going 
anywhere. 

“I don’t suppose it is exactly the thing, 
after steaming her so,” said Mrs. Fixfax, as 
if talking to herself, — she did not even 
look at Horace ; — “ but really I don’t know 
what else to do. I couldn’t keep her at 
home unless the rest of the children staid; 
and if I did I presume she’d get killed 
some other way. She’s one of the kind 
that’s never safe, except in bed, with the 
door locked, and the key in your pock- 
et.” 

“Let her manage it to suit herself,” 
thought brother Horace, deeply wounded ; 
“ she knows wy opinion.” 

When Madam Pragoffyetski came, the 
housekeeper went down to the parlor to 


A FLY IN TRINITY CHURCH. 


Ill 


introduce the children — a step which Hor- 
ace thought highly unnecessary. He waf 
charmed at once with the foreign lady’s af 
fable manners, and would have liked to go 
with her, if only Fly could have been left 
behind. Mrs. Fixfax explained that the 
child had been sick, and must he treated 
like a hot-house plant. 

“ ¥e thought last night she was in dangei 
of her life ,” said Dotty. “You expected 
she was going to die, Horace ; you knov 
you did.” 

“Well, I wasn’t going to,” returned Fly, 
coughing. “I knew I should live — I al- 
ways do live.” 

“ What was the matter?” said Mrs. Pra- 
goffyetski, in alarm ; for she knew as much 
about children’s ailments as she did about 
the volcanoes in the sun. 

“ Only a little sore throat,” answered the 


112 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


housekeeper, still looking, anxious, and not 
at all sure she was doing right. 

“ Yes’m, sore froat. And Dotty wanted 
me to have the measles, too ; hut I 
wouldn’t.” 

“ That is right,” said Mrs. Pragoffyetski, 
with a musical laugh. “ Indeed, your little 
cousin was cruel to ask such a thing of you. 
I’m glad you didn’t do it.” 

They took a street-car, and Dotty pressed 
her face against a window, expecting to see 
gay sights all the way. But no; the shops 
had their eyes shut. Yesterday how quickly 
everybody had moved ! Now, men and wo- 
men were walking quietly along, and there 
was no confusion anywhere. 

“ How strange !” said Prudy. “I should 
think it was Sunday, only the hoys are 
blowing tin trumpets.” 

“Yes; and the babies are going to visit 


A FLY IN TRINITY CHURCH. 


113 


their grandmammas,” said Mrs. Pragoff ; 
“look at the one in the corner in its nurse’s 
arms, with a point-lace bib under its chin. 
That pretty blanket, embroidered so heav- 
ily, must weigh more than the baby.” 

Dotty kept her gaze steadily fixed on the 
streets. 

“ It seems so funny for a steeple to be 
'preceding from the middle of those stores. 
’Tisn’t a very pious place for a church !” 

“How I hope Dotty isn’t going to be 
pert,” thought Prudy. 

“ I know what street that is, down there,” 
added Miss Dimple, jumping out of the car 
with both feet; “ that is Wall Street. Did 
they use to have walls both sides of it? 
Horace, you scared me so yesterday, I like 
to screamed. You said there were bulls 
and bears growling all the way along; but 
there wasn’t a single bear, only a stuffed 
8 


114 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


one sitting on top of a store, and he wasn’t 
alive, and not on this street either.” 

Here Prudy gave her sister’s little finger 
a squeeze, which was meant for “hush;” 
but Dotty never could understand why it 
was not proper at all times to say what she 
had on her mind, especially when people 
listened so politely as this Polish lady. 

“ Mrs. — Mrs. Pragoff-yetski, I hope you’ll 
excuse me, hut I can’t remember your 
name.” 

“That is it; you have it exactly; but 
never mind about the last part, my love. 
Pragofifis enough.” 

“ Yes’m. — Well, I was going to ask you, 
Mrs. Yetski, will you please sit between me 
and Fly when we go into church ? 0, you 

don’t know how funny she acts, or you 
never’d dare take her. I wouldn’t laugh 
in church for anything in this world ; but 
Fly always makes me.” 


A FLY IN TRINITY CHURCH. lit) 

“ Does she, indeed ! Ah me, that is very 
unfortunate !” said the queenly lady, look- 
ing down on little Miss Toddlekins as if she 
were actually afraid of her. She took care 
to put Dotty out of harm’s way, by pla- 
cing the untamable Fly between Horace and 
Prudy. 

The interior of Trinity Church was so 
magnificent, the Christmas decorations so 
fresh and beautiful, and the service so im- 
posing, that no one thought of such a thing 
as smiling. 

“ How could I have been so impatient, 
yesterday ?” thought Prudy, as she listened 
to the plaintive chant, “ He was a man of 
sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” 

“ Why, if you only think of that, how 
our Saviour had trouble every minute, it 
doesn’t seem as if it makes so much differ- 
ence whether we people and children have 
a good time or not.” 


116 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


Here, as they were about to seat them- 
selves at the close cf the chant, Fly, who, 
in spite of her brother’s warnings, had been 
tilting hack and forth on a stool, suddenly 
tipped forward, and hit her nose furiously. 
Blood flowed from the wound ; and the 
sight of it, together with the pain, made 
the child frantic. She forgot where she 
was and screamed. Poor Mrs. Pragofiyet- 
ski ! Though a good woman in the main, 
she was rather proud of appearances, and 
had just been thinking the four chil- 
dren did her credit. But now ! The shrill 
cry of distress called everybody’s attention 
to her pew. The whole audience were 
looking up from their prayer-books in as- 
tonishment. 

w Tut, tut ! My dear ! My love ! Hush, 
my babe, lie still, — 0, can’t you stop cry- 
ing?” 


A FLY IN TRINITY CHURCH. 


117 


Horace, too, was trying to quiet the child ; 
but Fly sincerely believed she was bleeding 
to death ; so what did she care for proprie- 
ties ? 

“ O, my shole !” piped she aloud, plun- 
ging both hands into the stream of blood, 
and afterwards into her hair. 

Thus, by the time Mrs. PragofF and Hor- 
ace got her into the aisle, she looked as if 
she had been murdered. 

“ I wish I was twenty-one,” thought Hor- 
ace, bitterly. “ Mrs. Fixfax had no business 
steaming this child. I believe it has gone 
to her brain.” 

The party of five marched out of church, 
for Mrs. PragofF did not wish to make a 
second sensation by coming back after 
Prudy and Dotty. 

u I never go with Fly but I get mortified, 3 ’ 
thought Miss Dimple; “and now, 0 dear* 
I shan’t hear those Christmas chimes !” 


118 


PKUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


But Prudy was thinking how sorry she 
was for Mrs. Pragoff and Horace. 

They all went into a druggist’s, and, after 
a few minutes spent in the use of a sponge 
and water, poor Fly ceased to look like a 
murdered victim, but very much like a 
marble image. When they reached Mrs. 
Pragoff’s, she was placed on a sofa, and 
for once in her life lay still. Horace bent 
over her with the wildest anxiety, thinking 
some terrible crisis was coming. As soon 
as she felt a little better, she began to cry. 
“O, darling, what is it?” said he, glad to 
see her in motion once more. 

“ Cause my Uncle ’Gustus is sick.” 

“ Poh,” said Dotty ; “ crying about that ? 
See ! I don’t cry.” 

“Well, you don’t love Uncle ’Gustus so 
hard as I do,” said Fly, with another burst. 

Mrs. Pragoff looked on with interest, and 


A FLY IN TRINITY CHURCH. 


119 


tried to remember whether she had ever 
heard that children shed tears when they 
were “ coming down ” with scarlet fever. 
This elegant mansion was a very interest- 
ing place to visit. To say nothing of things 
which “made a noise,” there was no end of 
curiosities from the four quarters of the 
globe ; and Mrs. Pragoff was so truly well- 
bred that the children soon felt at home. 
Dotty was deeply engaged in examining 
a sea-horse, when Prudy suddenly whis- 
pered, — 

“Dotty, what did you do last night with 
those two rings?’’ 

“ Rings ? What rings ?” 

Then a look of absolute terror spread over 
Dotty’s face. She remembered slipping off 
her auntie’s rings when she washed the dish- 
es ; but where had she put them ? 

“ Why, Prudy, I persume I left ’em in- 
in— where I ought to leave ’em.” 


120 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“ 0, I’m glad you did,” returned Prudy, 
quite satisfied, for she was listening with one 
ear to the liquid notes of “The Wandering 
Sprite.” 

“Why didn’t Prudy Parlin ask me be- 
fore ? ” thought Dotty, in much agitation ; 
“ and then I could have gone all round and 
looked to see if I’d put them in the right 
place.” 


dotty’s windpipe. 


121 


CHAPTER VIII. 

dotty’s windpipe. 

It mattered little to Dotty, after this, what 
happened. She cared nothing about the 
elegant masters and misses who dropped 
in to dinner, though Prudy was too fright- 
ened to speak ; nothing about the paro- 
quets, and dried butterflies, and Japanese 
canoes she pretended to look at ; nothing 
about the chatting and laughing, and very 
little about the Christmas plum-pudding, the 
oyster-pies, and ice cream. Dotty had no 
heart for any of these things. She was 
thinking continually, “Where are those 
rings ? ” 


122 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


Fly did not dine, and Dotty had begged 
to stay with her. 

“ No,” said Mrs. Pragoff, patting Miss 
Dimple’s cheek with her dainty hand, which 
did not look as if it had ever been soiled 
with anything coarser than rose leaves ; “ I 
am glad to see you so kind to your dear 
little cousin ; but she is asleep on my bed, 
and does not need you.” 

Prudy sat at her hostess’s right hand, and 
in spite of her bashfulness, was as happy a 
child as ever broke a wish-bone. No one 
who has not had the care of a family can 
imagine the relief she felt now the cooking 
was off her mind. But Dotty was wringing 
her hands under the table-cloth, and thinking, 
“ I don’t want to see anybody. My heart is 
certainly broken.” 

“ Why, Dot, what’s the matter ? What 
are you scowling at so ? ” said Horace, in a 
low tone. 


dotty’s windpipe. 


123 


Upon that Dotty began to smile. Ho one 
must know her heart was broken, for fear 
the question might arise, “ What broke it ?” 
Of course her smile was a make-believe, 
nothing more nor less than a simper. The 
large boy across the table looked at her in 
surprise. “ Handsome as a picture,” thought 
he, “ but no brains.” 

“ 0, my sorrows ! What’ll I do ? I can’t 
remember whether I put those rings in my 
blue pocket, or carried ’em up stairs. 
Seems to me I dropped ’em in a salt-cel- 
lar. Ho; I thought I’d lay ’em in a book, 
but we flew round so when Fly was sick, 
that I shouldn’t wonder if they got into the 
wood-box.” 

All the while Dotty went on simpering 
and saying, “ If you please, sir,” every time 
a dish was passed her. Her singular be- 
havior surprised Horace,, and when she took 


124 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


three olives, which she very much disliked, 
and immediately afterwards tucked them 
under her plate, he said, — 

“Dot, I believe you are crazy.” 

It was an unfortunate remark. A little 
more, and there would have been a scene 
at the table ; but Dotty, with all her self- 
control, forced back the tears. “ Wonder 
if he wanted to make me cry,” thought 
she; “but I won’t cry. And he needn’t 
think he can make me ‘ mad’ either. S’pose 
I’d show temper right before these people?” 

On the whole, Dotty contrived to keep up 
appearances, and no one but Horace and 
the youth opposite noticed her much, or sus- 
pected her of being an idiot. But the mo- 
ment dinner was over, she stole away from 
the party, and found her way up-stairs to 
Mrs. Pragoff’s room. There, on the outside 
of the bed, lay Fly, half undressed, and still 
very pale. 


dotty’s windpipe. 


125 


“ Gas-light makes folks look gasAy” 
thought Dotty , “ but she isn’t much sick, 
or Horace wouldn’t have eaten any dinner. 
There, when 1 first got a peek at this bed- 
quilt, I thought it was so queer ; and now 
I’m going to see what it’s made of.” 

Instead of a common coverlet, the bed 
was adorned with two enormous crimson 
satin cushions stuffed with swan’s down. 
The cushion on the lower half of the bed 
was two feet deep, to cover the lower part 
of the body, and the one at the upper part 
not quite so thick, for it was to cover the 
shoulders. Then a sheet of the finest linen 
was turned over at the top and sides, and 
buttoned on to the cushions. The pillows 
were of crimson silk, the bedstead enor- 
mously high, and carved all over with 
figures of gods and goddesses. 

Dotty stood gazing with surprise, and 
almost forgetting her trouble. 


126 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“ She must have brought it over from 
Poland when she ran away, only it’s so 
heavy. But then I don’t s’pose she ran on 
foot. Came in the night, in the cars, prob- 
’ly. Poland’s up by the North Pole. I’m 
going to ask auntie about it.” 

But the moment auntie came into her 
thoughts Dotty was wretched again. She 
went to a window, drew back the damask 
curtain, and gazed out. 

“ The night came on alone, 

The little stars sat, one by one, 

Bach on his golden throne.” 

“ Those stars twinkle like auntie’s rings. 
Let’s see : one was full of little pieces of 
glass, about as big as raspberry seeds. I 
shouldn’t think glass would cost much. And 
the other was red, like a drop of blood, with 
ice frozen over it. That can’t be so expen- 
sive, should you think, as a string of beads ?” 


dotty’s windpipe. 


127 


Dotty tried hard to comfort herself, but 
could not stay comforted. 

“You don’t s’pose auntie’s jewels cost 
more than my papa is worth? IIow he 
must feel to be so poor! If he has to pay 
for those rings, we shan’t get enough to eat. 
Have to live on crackers and olives. And 
when we come to the table, father will look 
at me, and say, ‘This is on the account ot 
your naughty conduct, child!’ O, dear! I 
can’t speak one w~ord, for it will be true, what 
he says. Grandma Read will have enough to 
eat; Norah will set it on her end of the 
table. Grandma is rich; I’ve seen her 
counting over bills in her desk; but how 
could I ask her for any, when she’d look 
right in my eyes, and say, ‘What was thee 
doing with other folks’ rings on thy thumbs V 

“Well, I know ’twasn’t right; but ’twas 
Prudy’s fault some. If she hadn’t told me 


128 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


not to so hard, I persume I shouldn’t. 
What made her speak up, and get me 
started ? 

“ 0, did you ever see such a beautiful 
string of beads? One, two, three, — I 
guess there are a thousand.” 

Dotty threw the necklace over her head, 
and the air became as fragant as a garden 
of spices. 

“ I don’t mean to meddle with other peo- 
ples’ things any more; mother has taught 
me better. But there’s one thought keeps 
coming into my mind: Isn’t it wicked to 
have so much jewelry? The ’postles didn't 
wear any, nor Job didn’t wear any, nor 
Moses. 

“ Well, nor auntie don’t, either. Nothing 
but a watch and wedding-ring. Horace 
says that’s so queer. 

“Now, what’s the use of it, just to lock 


dotty’s windpipe. 


129 


up away from the morths ? I don’t believe 
auntie knows how many rings there were 
in that casket !” 

This was a new idea. Dotty’s eyes be- 
gan to sparkle. They wocdd have made a 
jeweller’s fortune if he could have put 
them in a gold setting, and sold them for 
sapphires. 

“The rings are somewhere round. I’m 
sure I can find them; but if I can’t, will it 
be very wrong not to tell, when ’twouldn’t 
make the least difference, and auntie never 
wears ’em? Ought never to have ’em at 
all; ought to have the ornaments of meek 
and quiet spirits, instead of rings. 

“Prudy would think ’twas awful not to 
tell; but Prudy can’t say anything to me. 
Didn’t she get mad yesterday, real, shaky 
mad? ’Twas a great deal wickeder for her 
than it is for me — her disposition is res/ 
9 


130 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


good, and mine was born awful. So Prudv 
can’t say a word to me about anything I do. 

“ And I declare, who wants to eat olives 
and fried pork? Prudy wouldn’t like it 
any better ’n I do. She would think she’d 
tell, but p’haps she wouldn’t any quick- 
er’n me. 

“All just for two old rings, that never 
did me any good, and didn’t have much 
of a time keeping house, either.” 

“ Dotty Dimple, you here?” said Prudy, 
appearing at her sister’s elbow, like an ac- 
cusing angel. “ Why, I’ve been hunting you 
all over the house. You mustn’t wear that 
on your neck; it is a rosary; it doesn’t be- 
long to you.” 

“Prudy little knows how my heart’s bro- 
ken,” thought Dotty, “or she wouldn’t talk 
about beads. And me wanting to go home 
so I could ’most fly, just to find those rings.” 



“Dotty Dimple, you heke?” Page 130 







u ; « * * 




















dotty’s windpipe. 


181 


“ I have been hunting for you,” repeated 
Prudy. “ Mrs. Pragoff sent a man over to 
Uncle Augustus’s to find out whether thej 
came to-night in the cars ; but they didn’t. 
There was a letter that uncle wasn’t able ; 
but they’ll come to-morrow afternoon.” 

“ That’s splendid,” thought Dotty ; “ now 
I’ll have to-night and all to-morrow 1 fore- 
noon to hunt.” 

“And then Mrs. Pragofi* said we might 
just as well stay here all night as to go 
home,” continued Prudy. 

“ 0, dear, dear ! we’re not going to stay 
here, Prudy Parlin ? Why didn’t you come 
and ask if I was willing ? ” 

“ I did hunt for you, Dotty, but I couldn’t 
find you. I thought you’d like to stay. 
They are playing so beautifully down stairs. 
I’m just proud of Horace ; he acts like a 
little gentleman.” 


132 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“I don’t care how Horace acts, and I 
don’t want to play with people that have 
their hair frizzed. I want to go hack to 
auntie’s.’ 

“ But you can’t, Dotty. Mrs. Pragoff has 
sent to Mrs. Fixfax for our night-dresses.” 

Dotty rolled herself up in the curtain, 
and screamed into the folds of it. 

“Why, Dotty, what am I going to do 
with you ? Please come down, and be- 
have.” 

“ O, Prudy, I don’t want ever to go down 
again. I don’t want ever to see folks, or 
behave, as long as I live.” 

“ But, Dotty, all these little boys and girls 
came here just to see us. It is our Christ- 
mas party. You’ll mortify Mrs. Pragoff. 
You know how Fly mortified her this morn- 
ing. Please don’t be contrary.” 

Dotty unrolled herself from the curtain 
with a triumphant smile. 


dotty’s windpipe. 


133 


“ You needn’t say anything, Prudy Par- 
lin ! You got mad your own self, I s’pose 
you know ! ” 

Prudy’s eyes dropped suddenly. 

“But, Dotty, why do you want to go 
back to auntie’s to-night ? ” 

“ I want to go for something particular. 
I — ” Prudy’s mouth was opening for an- 
other question. “ Because I — I’ve swal- 
lowed something the wrong wav.” 

“ O Dotty, not a pin ! ” 

“Ho ; what you s’pose ? Guess I’ve done 
something to my windpipe. Wish you 
wouldn’t talk.” 

Prudy, in spite of her vexation, could not 
help smiling at Dotty’s fierce grimaces, of 
which she got a vanishing view as the child 
went into the curtain again. 

“If we don’t go home, Prudy, I’ll have 
to go right to bed. I don’t feel like sitting 
up.” 


134 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“ Then I must ask Mrs. Pragoff where we 
are to sleep.” 

And next minute Prudy was half way 
down stairs, thinking, — 

“ What’s gone wrong ? I never can find 
out by asking her. She don’t think or care 
how impolite she is, and how hard she 
makes it for me.” 

It was a very brilliant party, composed 
of some of the most refined and accom- 
plished little people in the city of New 
York. Such fine dresses and such die-away 
manners overawed Prudy. She did wish 
her mamma had sent a thin summer dress 
in the trunk. It was dreadful to have to 
wear woollen, high-necked and long-sleeved. 
It cost her a great effort to cross the room. 
She felt as awkward as a limping grasshop- 
per in a crowd of butterflies. But reaching 
her hostess at last, she timidly whispered, — 


dotty’s windpipe. 


135 


“ My sister says she isn’t very well, Mrs. 
Pragoff, and that’s why she stays up stairs. 
If you please, perhaps she’d better go to 
bed.” 

Prudy was very much ashamed to say 
this ; but politeness required her to make 
some excuse for wayward Dotty’s behavior. 

Of course Mrs. Pragoff weut up stairs 
at once. At the sound of her steps, and 
the words, “ You poor, forlorn little dear,” 
Dotty came out of the curtain, looking as 
miserable as could be desired. 

“ I am so sorry, darling ! I wished you 
to become acquainted with these nice little 
gentlemen and ladies.” 

“But I — I — it hurts me to talk, ma’am.” 

“ Your throat, too ? O, my love !” cried 
Mrs. Pragoff, seeing a dreadful vision, with 
her mind’s eye, of two cases of scarlet fever. 
She was a childless widow, and children 


136 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


puzzled as well as interested her. She did 
not know what to make of Dotty’s confused 
statement that she “ wasn’t sick and wasn’t 
well,” but undressed and put her to bed as 
if she had been six months old, resolving to 
send for the doctor in the morning. 

“ What have you on your neck, precious ? 
O, that rosary. It is one of my curiosities. 
Do you fancy it ?” 

“ Here is the box in which it belongs. I 
give you the box and the beads, my charm- 
ing dear, for a Christmas present and a con- 
solation. See the card at the bottom of the 
box : — 

“ ‘ Life is a rosary, 

Strung with the beads of little deeds 
Done humbly, Lord, as unto Thee.’ 

“ I hope your life will be the most beauti- 
ful of rosaries, darling, and all your little 
deeds as lovely as these beads. 


DOTTY'S WINDPIPE. 


137 


“And now, good night, and may the 
Christ-Child give you your dreams.” 

As soon as Dotty was alone, she covered 
her head with the bed-clothes, and made up 
faces. She wished she could push herself 
through the footboard, and come out at 
Portland. She never wished to set eyes 
on the city of New York again, or anybody 
that lived in it. 


138 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


CHAPTER IX. 

TWO LIVE CHILDREN. 

As Dotty lay tossing on her bed, she 
heard the laughing, and the lively music of 
the piano, and began to find' she had missed 
a great deal by not going down stairs. 

Horace and Prudy were getting a taste of 
fashionable society. True, Prudy did tire 
of the fixed questions, “ How do you like 
New York? Have you been in the Park?” 
asked by girls in pink, and girls in blue, and 
boys in wondrous neck-ties, with hair parted 
very near the middle. She was astonished 
when Mrs. Pragoff proposed games. How 
could such exquisite children play without 


TWO LIVE CHILDREN. 1^»9 

tearing their flounces and deranging their 
crieped hair ? But games were a relief to 
Prudy. When she was playing she forgot 
her thick winter dress, and appeared like 
herself. 

“ I don’t believe Dotty can get to sleep in 
all this noise. Here’s a nice chance to slip 
out. and I’ll run up and see.” 

She was not quite sure of the room, but 
the words, “ Is that you, Prudy ? ” in an 
aggrieved voice, showed her the way. 

“ IIow do you feel, darling?” 

“ Feel ? How’d you feel going to bed 
right after dinner ? ” 

“ But you said you were sick.” 

“ Well, yes; my — windpipe; but that’s 
done aching. I can talk now. You get my 
clothes, and I’ll dress and go down stairs.” 

“ Why, Dotty, I’ve excused you to Mrs. 
Pragoff, and it wouldn’t be polite to go 
now.” 


140 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“Why not? Mother went down once 
with her head tied up in vinegar. Besides, 
it shakes me all over to hear such a noise. 
And it’s not polite to stay away when the 
party’s some of it for me.” 

Prudy resigned herself to this new morti- 
fication, and helped the child dress. 

Dotty went down stairs with such an ap- 
pearance of restored health, that Mrs. Pra- 
goff was quite relieved, and gave up her fear 
of scarlet fever. But Miss Dimple’s friends 
were all sorry, half an hour afterwards, that 
she had not staid in bed. 

Among other games, they played “ Key 
to Unlock Characters ; ” and here she proved 
herself anything hut polished in her man- 
ners. The key coming to her as “ the girl 
with the brightest eyes,” she was told, in a 
whisper, to give it to the person of whom 
she had such or such an opinion. The lit- 


TWO LIVE CHILDREN. 


141 


tie boys were interested to know which 
one of them would get it, for it was usually 
considered a compliment. But Dotty did 
not notice any of the boys; she quickly 
stepped up to a young girl with frizzes of 
hair falling into her eyes, and gay streamers 
of ribbons flying abroad. Little miss took 
the key with an affected smile and a shake 
of her shaggy locks, never doubting she 
was receiving a great honor. 

But when, at the close of the game, the 
players explained themselves, Mallie Lewis 
was startled by these words from the little 
Portland girl : — 

“ I was told to give the key to the most 
horrid-looking person in the room, and 1 
did so!” 

Dotty had not stopped to reflect that “ the 
truth should not be spoken at all times,” and 
is often out of place in games of amusement 


142 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


But to do her justice, she was ashamed of 
her rudeness the moment the words were 
spoken. Prudy was blushing from the roots 
of her hair to the lace in her throat. u Why 
hadn't Dotty given the key to Horace or 
herself? Then nobody would have minded.” 

Ah, Prudy, your little sister, though more 
brilliant than you are, has not your exquis- 
ite tact. 

Mrs. Pragoff tried to laugh off this awk- 
ward blunder, but did not succeed. The 
moment Dotty could catch her ear, she said, 
in a low tone, — 

“ I’m so sorry, Mrs. Pragoff-yetski. Will 
it do any good to go and tell her she made 
me think of a Shetland pony?” 

Mrs. Pragoff laughed, and thought not. 
But afterwards she took Mallie into a corner 
to show her some “ seven-years ” African 
dowers, and said, — 


TWO LIVE CHILDREN. 


143 


“ Mallie, dear, I wish you wouldn’t veil 
those bright eyes under such fuzzy little 
curls. That was why you got the key. 
Dotty Dimple isn’t used to seeing young 
ladies look like Shetland ponies.” 

Mallie’s face brightened, or that part of 
it which was in sight. 0, it was only her 
hair the country child called horrid ! After 
this she actually allowed Dotty to sit beside 
her on the sofa, and look at the fan which 
Mrs. Pragoff said Marie Antoinette had once 
owned. Miss Dimple was remarkably polite 
and reserved. 

“ Safe as long as she stays in a corner,” 
thought Horace ; and he took care to keep 
her supplied with books and pictures. . 

He enjoyed the party, not being overawed, 
as poor Prudy was. Wasn’t he as good as 
any of them ? Better than most, for he 
didn’t have to use an eye-glass. “ These 


144 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


fellows are got up cheap. What do hair- 
oiPand perfumery amount to?’’ 

The hoys, in their turn, looked at Horace, 
and decided he was “ backwoodsy.” No- 
body who sported a silver watch could be- 
long to the “ first circles.” However, when 
he allowed himself to be “Knight of the 
Whistle/’ and hunted for the enchanted 
thing which everybody was blowing, and 
found at last it was dangling down his 
own back from a string, and they were all 
laughing at him, he was manly enough not 
to get vexed. That carried him up several 
degrees in every one’s esteem. In his own, 
too, I confess. 

As for Prudy, the girls could not help 
seeing she had no style ; but the boys liked 
her, for all that. If they had only known 
what their hostess thought,' there would have 
been some surprise. 


TWO LIVE CHILDREN. 


145 


“ These little misses look to me like bon- 
net flowers made out of book-muslin. Pru- 
dy, now, is a genuine, fresh moss rose bud. 
There is no comparison, you dear little 
Prudy, between artificial and natural flow- 
ers !” 

Mrs. Pragoff was called a “ finished lady.” 
She was acquainted with some of the best 
people in Europe and America. What could 
she see in Prudy ? The child was not to 
be compared with these exquisite little crea- 
tures, who had maids to dress them, and 
foreign masters come to their houses and 
teach them French, music, and dancing. 
Why, Prudy did not know French from 
Hebrew ; she had only learned a few tunes 
on th6 piano, and could not sing “ operatic” 
to save her life ; her dancing was generally 
done on one foot. What was the charm in 
Prudy ? 


1 


146 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


Just one thing — Naturalness. She was 
not made after a pattern. 

“ It was a great risk inviting them here, 
and that youngest one seems very delicate ; 
hut let what will happen, I make a note of 
this : I have seen four live children.” 

Live children indeed! And here comes 
one of them now — the unaccountable Fly, 
darting into the room very unexpectedly, 
rubbing her eyes as she runs. 

“ Why, Topknot !” cried Horace, making a 
dash upon her; for her frock was unfastened, 
and slipping off at the shoulders, and her 
head looked like a last year’s bird’s nest. 

“ Scusa me,” whispered the “live child,” 
very much astonished to see such a crowd. 

“ But you ought not to come down here 
half undressed, you little midget !” 

“ What if I wanted to ask you sumpin ?” 
stammered the child, more alarmed by her 


TWO LIVE CHILDREN. 


147 


brother’s sternness than by the fire of strange 
eyes. “ ’Spec’ I mus’ have my froat goggled ; 
have some more poke-rime round it, Hol- 
lis!” added she, in a tone loud enough to be 
heard by half the party. 

Think of mentioning “ poke-rime” in fash- 
ionable society! 

“ Tell her she must dance i Little Zephyrs,’ 
or you’ll send her right back,” suggested 
Prudy, who was famous for thinking of the 
right thing at the right time, and so making 
awkward affairs pass off well. 

“ Yes, Fly, come out in the floor, and 
dance ‘Little Zephyrs’ this minute, or you 
must go back to bed.” 

Anything for the sake of staying down 
stairs. Hardly conscious of the strange 
faces about her, the child flew into the 
middle of the room, rubbed some more 
sleep out of her eyes, and began to sing,— 


148 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“Little zephyrs, light and gay, 

First to tell us of the spring.” 

She seemed to float on air. There was 
not a bit of her body that was not in mo- 
tion, from the tnft of hair a- top of her head 
to the soles of her twinkling boots. Now 
here, now there, head nodding, hands wav- 
ing, feet flying. 

“ Encore/ ” cried the delighted hostess. 
“ Please, darling, let us hear that last verse 
again.” 

Mrs. PragofF was curious to know what 
sort of jargon she made of the lines, — 

“ Where the modest violets grow, 

And the fair anemone.” 

Fly repeated it with an exquisite sweet- 
ness which charmed the whole house : — 

“Where the modest vilets grow, 

And the fairy men no more know me." 

“The fairies do all know you, darling.” 


TWO LIVE CHILDREN. 


149 


exclaimed Mrs. Pragoff, kissing her raptu- 
rously. 

“Your feet are more light than a faery’s feet, 

Who dances on bubbles where brooklets meet.” 

“ There ! Dancing on bubbles !” said Pru- 
dy aside to Horace. “ That’s just what I 
always wanted to call it, but never knew 
how.” 

On the whole it was a pleasant evening, 
and Mrs. Pragoff had no reason to regret 
having given the little party. Everybody 
went to bed happy but Dotty, who could 
not shut her eyes without seeing the blaze 
of two rings, which burned into her brain. 


150 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


CHAPTER X. 

RIDING ON JACK FROST. 

Fly slept in a little cot beside her 
hostess’s bed. Mrs. Pragoff, poor lady, 
reclined half the night on her elbow, watch- 
ing the child’s breathing ; but, to her inex- 
pressible relief, nothing happened that was 
at all alarming. Fly only waked once in 
the night, and asked in a drowsy tone, 
“ Have I got a measle ?” 

But just as Mrs. Pragoff was enjoying 
a morning nap, a pair of little feet went 
pricking over the floor, towards the girls’ 
room, but soon returned, and a sweet 
young voice cried, — 


RIDING ON JACK FROST. 


151 


“0, Miss Perdigoff, I can’t wake up 
Dotty!” 

“ Can’t wake her, child !” 

“No’m, I can’t; nor Prudy can’t: we 
can’t wake up Dotty.” 

Mrs. Pragoff roused at once, with a new 
cause for alarm. 

“Why, what does this mean? Did you 
try hard to wake her ?” 

“Yes’m; I shuked her.” 

Mrs. Pragoff now remembered, with ter- 
ror, that there had been a little trouble 
with Dotty’s windpipe. Could she have 
choked to death ?” 

Rising instantly, she threw on her wrap- 
per, and was hurrying across the passage, 
when Fly added, — 

“’Haps she’ll let you wake her; she 
wouldn’t let me V Prudy.” 

“You little mischief, is that what you 
mean ? She won’t let you wake her ?” 


152 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“Fo’ra, she won’t,” replied artless Fly; 
“ she said she wouldn’t' be bovvered.” 

Mrs. Pragoff went to bed again, laughing 
at her own folly. 

Dotty, it seems, was feeling very much 
like a bitter-sour apple. It had always 
been a peculiarity of hers to visit her own 
sins upon other people. Prudy did not 
suspect in the least what the matter was, 
but knew, from experience, it was safest 
to ask no questions. 

“ I’m going hack to auntie’s, this morning.” 

“ Why, Dotty, Uncle Augustus and auntie 
won’t be home till night. Mrs. Pragoff 
said she would take us to the Park and 
the Museum, you know.” 

“ I don’t care how much you go to 
parks and museums, Prudy ; I want to 
be at home long enough to get my hair 
brushed and put away my things.” 


RIDING ON JACK FROST. lf)3 

Prudy looked up in surprise; but the 
rousing-bell sounded, and both the little 
girls had as much as they could do to get 
ready for breakfast. When Mrs. Pragoff 
met them in the parlor, she saw two love- 
ly dimples playing in Dotty’s cheeks ; for 
the child was old enough, and had pride 
enough, to conceal her disagreeable feel- 
ings from strangers. All very well, only 
she might have carried the concealment a 
little farther, and spared poor Prudy much 
discomfort. 

Not that Prudy thought of complaining, 
— for really her younger sister’s temper 
was greatly improved. For a year or two 
she had scarcely been known to get seri- 
ously angry, and Prudy did not mind a 
sharp retort now and then, or even an 
hour’s sulks. 

While Dotty sipped her chocolate from 


154 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


a cup so delicate that it looked like a 
gilded bubble, she was wondering how she 
could get home. She did not know the 
way, and could not ask any one to go with 
her without making up an excuse. 

“ I could say I am sick, but that wouldn’t 
be true, and me eating muffins and honey. 
I’m afraid ’twasn’t quite true last night. I 
did feel rather funny, though, in my wind- 
pipe, now honest.” 

There seemed to be no other way bu\ to 
wait and go home with the rest of the 
children. Dotty tried to think there might 
be time enough, after all, to find the 
rings. 

They started for the Park. 

“May I depend upon you, Master Hor- 
ace, to take the entire charge of your 
little sister ! ” said Mrs. Pragoff, fasten- 
ing her ermine cloak with fingers which 


RIDING ON JACK FROST. 


155 


actually trembled; “I confess I haven’t the 
courage ; and I see you understand manag- 
ing her perfectly.” 

Of course Horace always expected to 
take care of Topknot. He would gladly 
have done a much harder thing for a lady 
who was so polite, and appreciated him so 
well. 

Mrs. Pragoff gave a hand to Prudy and 
Dotty, saying gayly, as they all five took a 
car for the Park, — 

“ * Sound the trumpet, beat the drum ; 

Tremble, France ; we come ! we come ! * ” 

There was just enough snow to whiten 
the ground, but none to spare. Every- 
body was determined to make the most of 
it while it lasted, and the Park was full 
of people sleigh-riding. It was really a 
wonderful sight. There were miles and 


156 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


miles of sleighs of all sorts, shaped like 
sea-shells, cradles, boats, water-lilies, or 
any other fanciful things. The people in 
them were so gay with various colors, that 
they looked like long lines of rainbows. 
Many of the horses had silver-mounted 
harnesses, and on their necks stood up 
little silver trees, branching out into sleigh- 
bells, and sprinkling the air with merry 
music. 

“ See, children, let us ride in this beauti- 
ful sleigh ; it is shaped like a Spanish gon- 
dola, and we ought to have music as we 
float.” 

“Fly can sing the ‘Shephard’s Pipe 
coming over the Mountains,’ ” said Dotty ; 
and forthwith the child began to warble 
the softest, sweetest music from her Won- 
derful little throat. Dotty queried pri- 
vately why it should be called the shep- 


RIDING ON JACK FROST. 


157 


herd's pipe: how could a shepherd smoke 
while he sang ? 

“ 0, how beautiful ! ” said everybody, 
when the music ceased. 

They meant that everything was beau- 
tiful. The air was so balmy, and the sky 
so soft, that you might fancy the sun was 
walking in his sleep, writing his dreams on 
the white clouds. 

“Splendid!” exclaimed Fly, forgetting, 
perhaps, that she was not a flying-fish, 
and trying to dive head first out of the 
gondola. 

“Tell me, children, if you don’t think 
our Park is very fine ? ” 

u Yes’m,” was the faint reply in chorus. 

“ Why don’t you say, 4 We never saw the 
like before ? ’ ” 

“ 0, we have, you know, ma’am,” said 
Prudy ; “it’s just like riding round Willow- 
brook.” 


158 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“ Fie ! don’t tell me there’s anything so 
beautiful in Maine ! I expect you to be 
enchanted every step of the way. Look at 
this pond, with the swans sailing on it.” 

“ 0, yes ; those are beauties/’ cried Dot- 
ty; “ I never saw any but cotton flannel 
ones before. But do you think the pond 
is as pretty as Bottomless Pond, Prudy, 
where Uncle Henry goes for pitcher- 
plants ? ” 

“You prosy little creature/’ said Mrs. 
Pragoff, laughing ; “ I am afraid you don’t 
admire these picturesque rocks and tree- 
stumps as you should.” 

Dotty thought this was certainly a jest. 

“ Pity there’s so many. Why don’t they ' 
hire men to dig ’em up by the roots ? ” 

Horace smiled on Dotty patronizingly. 

“ They’ll do it some time, Dot. The Park 
is new. Things can’t be finished in a min- 
ute, even in Hew York.” 


RIDING ON JACK FROST. 


159 


Mrs. PragofF smiled quietly, but was 
too polite to tell Horace the rocks had 
been brought there as an ornament, at great 
expense. 

“I like the Park, if it isn’t finished, ’’ 
said Prudy, summoning all her enthusi- 
asm; “ I know you’ll laugh, Horace, but 
I like it better for the rocks ; they make it 
look like home.” 

The ride would have seemed perfect to 
everybody ; only a wee sleigh passed them, 
drawn by a pair of goats, and Fly thought 
at once how much better a “ goat-hossy ” 
must be than a “ growned-up hossy, that 
didn’t have no horns.” She thought about 
it so much, that at last she could contain 
herself no longer. “ There was little girls 
in that pony-sleigh, Miss Perdigotf, with a 
boy a-drivin.’ ’Haps they’d let roe go, 
too, if you asked ’em, Miss Pe« ligofii 


160 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


My mamma don’t ’low me to trouble no- 
body, and I shan’t; only I thought I’d let 
you know I wanted to go, Miss Perdigoff.” 

Mrs. Pragoff laughed heartily, and thought 
Fly should certainly have a ride, “ ahind 
the goat-horses ; ” but it was not possible, 
as the cunning little sleigh was engaged for 
hours in advance. 

A visit to the Zoological Gardens com- 
forted the little one, however, after she 
got over her first fear of the animals. 
There they saw a vulture, like a lady in 
a cell, looking sadly out of a window, 
the train of her grey and brown dress 
trailing on the ground. Horace thought of 
Lady Jane Grey in prison. 

There was a white stork holding his red 
nose against his bosom, as if to warm it. 
A red macaw peeling an apple with his 
bill. Brown ostriches, like camels, walk- 


RIDING ON JACK FROST. 


161 


ing slowly about, as if they had great care 
on their minds. 

Green monkeys biting sticks and climb- 
ing bars. A spotted leopard, licking bis 
feet like a cat. A tierce panther, looking 
out of a window in the same discontented 
mood as the vulture. 

“ See him stoop down,” said Dotty; “ he 
makes as much bones of himself as be 
can.” 

A horned owl, with eyes like auntie's 
when she looks “ ’stonished.” 

An eagle, with a face, Horace said, like 
a very cute lawyer. 

A “ speckled bear,” without any specta- 
cles. A “ nelephant” like a great bill of 
stone, and a baby “ nelephant,” with ears 
like ruffled aprons. 

An anaconda that “ kept making a dam 
delion of himself.” 

H 


162 PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 

A great grizzly bear bugging a young 
grizzly daughter. 

“Who made that grizzle?" asked Fly, 
disgusted. 

“God.” 

“Why did He? I wouldn’t! — Miss 
PerdegofF, which does God love best, great 
ugly grizzles or hunkydory little parrots ?” 

“ 0, fie !” said Mrs. PragofF, really 
shocked ; “ where did a well-bred child 
like you ever hear such a coarse word as 
that?” 

“Hollv says hunkydory,” replied Fly, 
with her finger in her mouth, wdiile Horace 
pretended, to be absorbed in a monkey. 

Mrs. PragofF turned the subject. 

u Tell me, children, which do you com 
sider the most wonderful animal you have 
ever seen V* 


“ The lion,” replied Prudy. 


RIDING ON JACK FROST. 


163 


“ The whale,” said Dotty. “ Which do 
you, Mrs. PragofF?” 

“ This sort of animal, that thinks” re- 
plied the lady, touching Dotty’s shoulder ; 
“ this shows the most amazing power of all.” 

“You don’t mean to call me an animal,” 
said Dotty, with a slight shade of resent* 
ment in her voice. 

“ Why, little sister, I just hope you’re 
not a vegetable ! Don’t you know we are 
all animals that breathe ?” 

“0, are we? Then I don’t care,” said 
Dotty, and serenely followed the others up 
stairs, “ where the dried things were.” 

Next they went to Wood’s Museum, and 
saw greater wonders still. 

The “Sleeping Beauty,” dreaming of the 
Prince, with lips just parted and breath 
very gently coming and going. Dotty 
would not believe at first that her waxen 
bosom palpitated by clockwork. 


164 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


There were distorted mirrors, which 
Horace held Flyaway up to peep into, that 
he might enjoy her bewilderment when 
she saw her face twisted into strange 
shapes. 

The Cardiff Giant, which Horace said 
“you might depend upon was a hoax.” 

An Egyptian dromedary, which Fly “just 
knew ” had a sore throat ; and a stuffed 
gorilla in “ buffalo coat and leather gloves.” 

Then they had a lunch at Delmonico’s, 
^uite as good, Prudy admitted, “ as what 
you found in Boston.” 

After this, to Dotty’s dismay, they went 
to the Academy of Design, and criticised 
pictures. 

The statue of Eve Horace regarded with 
some contempt. “No wonder she didn’t 
know any better than to eat the apple ! 
What do you expect of a woman with 


RIDING ON JACK FROST. 


165 


such a small head as that ? Look here 
who do you suppose was Eve’s shoemaker ? 
Cain ?” 

“ Shoemaker ? Why, Horace, she’s bare- 
foot.” 

“So she is, now, Dot; but she’s worn 
shoes long enough to cramp her toes.’ 

“ Strange I never noticed that before,” 
said Mrs. Pragoff. “ I think the sculptor 
ought to know your criticism, Master 
Horace.” 

“ She’s a woman that understands what 
a hoy is worth,” thought Horace, very 
much flattered. “ Tell you what, I never 
saw a more sensible person than Mrs. 
Pragoff.” 

“Now, dears, shall we go to Stewart’s?” 

“ 0, no’m ; please don’t,” cried Dotty. 
“ Because,” added she, checking herself, 
u their curtains are all down ; and don’t you 


166 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


s’spose Mr. Stewart and the clerks have 
gone off somewhere ?” 

Mrs. Pragoff laughed, hut, concluding the 
child was very tired, proposed going home ; 
and, to Dotty’s great joy, they started at 
once. 

“ I shall so grieve to part with you!” 
said Mrs. Pragoff, as they went along. 
“ I wish you were mine to keep, every soul 
of you.” 

But Dotty noticed that while she spoke 
she was looking at Prudy. 


THE JEWEL CABINET. 


167 


CHAPTER XI. 

THE JEWEL CABINET. 

Alas for the diamond and the ruby 
rings ! New York is “ a city of magnifi- 
cent distances,” and by the time the children 
were safely at home, there was a great stir 
through the house. Colonel Allen and wife 
had come. Too late now to think of hunt- 
ing for anything. 

“ Where are my little folks ?” rang Uncle 
Augustus’s cheery voice through the hall ; 
and m he came, not looking ill in the least. 
His eyes were as black as ever, and he 
carried just as much flesh on his tall, large 
frame. Somehow, he cheered one’s heart 


168 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


like an open fire. So did Aunt Madge, 
There wasn’t so much of her in size, but 
there was what you might call a “ warm 
tone’’ over her whole face, which made you 
think of sunshine and fair weather. So in 
walked “ an opon fire” and a “ray of sun- 
shine,” and “ took off their things.” Of 
course there were laughing and kissing; and 
Fly, without being requested, hugged Uncle 
’Gustus like a little “grizzle.” 

“ Sorry I cried so Tout you bein' sick. 
Didn’t ’spect you’d get well.” 

“ Beg pardon for disappointing you. How 
many tears, did you waste, little Crocodile? 
Why, children, you’re as welcome, all of 
you, as crocuses in spring. But no; it’s you 
who should bid us welcome. I understand 
you are keeping house, and auntie and I 
have come visiting ?” 
u O, no, no, no,” cried Prudy; “we’ve 


TIIE JEWEL CABINET. 


169 


got all over that; and I tell you, auntie, 
now you’ve come home, I feel as if an ele- 
phant had rolled right off my heart..’ 

4 4 Why, I hope nothing serious has hap- 
pened,” said Mrs. Allen, looking at the pile 
of nutshells Fly had just dropped on the 
carpet, and at Dotty’s cloak, which lay be- 
side Horace’s cap on the piano-stool. 

44 Yes’m, there is sumpin happened,” spoke 
up Fly from the floor, where she sat with 
44 chestnuts in her lap, and munched, and 
munched, and munched.” 44 I’ve had the 
fever, but I didn’t die in it.” 

44 She wasn’t much sick, auntie; but it 
frightened us. Mrs. Fixfax rolled her up 
six yards deep in blankets, and we thought 
4 what is home without a mother?’ And 
then, you see, I didn’t know the least thing 
about cooking, for all I pretended. I tell 
you, auntie, it’s very different not to have 
anybody to ask how to do things.” 


170 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“ Such messes, you ought to seen ’em, 
auntie,” struck in Dotty, without the least 
pity. 

“ Pshaw ! we didn’t starve, nor anywhere 
near it,” cried Horace. “ I wouldn’t say any- 
thing, Dot, for Prue worked like a Trojan, 
and you dawdled round with rings on your 
thumbs.” 

At the mention of rings, Dotty blushed, 
and stole a glance at Mrs. Allen. 

“ See, auntie,” said she, taking off her 
rosary, “ this is my Christmas present ; but 
it doesn’t make me a Catholic — does it?” 

“ How beautiful, my child ! A full rosary 
of one hundred and fifty beads. It is called 
‘a chaplet of spiritual roses.’ Ked, white, 
and damask. Pray, who could have given 
it to you ? ” 

“ A lady that ran away from Poland. How 
don’t you know? Sleeps with a feather bed 
over her, covered with satin.” 


THE JEWEL CABINET. 


171 


“ Mrs. PragofH You haven’t been to her 
house ? ” 

“Yes’m, we did, and to her church in 
Trinity ; and she made a party for us, and 
we staid all night.” 

“ That’s a remarkable joke,” said Colonel 
Allen, rubbing his hands. “ She must have 
had a bee in her bonnet with all these rol- 
licking children round her.” 

“ No’m, she never ; but I had the nosy- 
bleed on the pew -quislion awful. Had to be 
tookened home. Didn’t eat no supper.” 

“ You don’t tell me there was a scene in 
church,” cried Aunt Madge, looking at Uncle 
Augustus, who rubbed his hands again, and 
laughed heartily. “ How happened you to 
go, Horace ? ” 

“It wasn’t my doings, auntie. Topknot 
had been lying in a steam all night, and I 
told Mrs. Fixfax she wasn’t fit to go out 


172 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


of the house ; but no attention was paid to 
what I said. Notice was served on me to 
take the little thing off visiting, and I had 
to obey. But I tell you I was thankful she 
didn’t do anything worse than to bump her 
nose, though she did scream murder, and 
we followed her out in a straight line.” 

“ And this transpired at Trinity Church,” 
said Colonel Allen, intensely amused. “Rath- 
er severe for a woman who worships Saint 
Grundy.” 

“ Saint who ? I thought she was queer, or 
she wouldn’t run away,” said Dotty, much 
shocked. 

“ Fie, Augustus ! ” said Aunt Madge, who 
was laughing herself. “I wouldn’t have had 
this happen on any account. Mrs. Pragoff 
asked me, before the children came, if I 
would let them visit her; but I gave her no 
decided answer ; thought, perhaps I might 


THE JEWEL CABINET. 


173 


go with them just to drink tea. But the 
idea of her taking them while I was gone ! 
And her house so full of elegant little tri- 
fles ! How much did Fly break ?” 

“ Nothing, auntie,” replied Horace. “ I 
didn’t let her stir but I was after her. I 
flatter myself I saved considerable prop- 
erty.” 

“ There, Margery, don’t mind it,” said 
Uncle Augustus. “ Mrs. Pragoff needed all 
this mortification to humble her pride. 
Come here, Fly ; here’s a bonbon for you. 
They say you are going about doing good 
without any more intention of it than the 
goose that saved Rome.” 

“ That reminds me to inquire,” said Aunt 
Madge, “ if Fly’s blind girl came that day?” 

“ Yes, auntie, and she was so sorry you 
were gone ; but they will be here again to^ 


morrow. 


174 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“ It was too bad to disappoint her,” said 
Aunt Madge, with such lovely pity in her 
face that Prudy seized one of her hands 
and kissed it. 

“I tell you what it is,” broke in Dotty; 
“ I always thought Mrs. Pragoff must be 
queer as soon as I heard she came from 
Poland, where grandma’s cropple-crown hen 
came from ; don’t you remember, Prudy ? 
the one that hatched the duck’s eggs. But 
I didn’t know she worshipped things. Only 
I noticed that she didn’t buy any black pins 
when those pitiful little boys ran after us, 
and said, 4 0, lady ! please, lady !’ I thought 
that was mean.” 

“ Miss Dotty Dimple, come sit on my 
knee, and let me explain. Mrs. Pragoff is 
no heathen. She only loves to dress ele- 
gantly, and your auntie and I sometimes 
think she cares too much about it, and 


THE JEWEL CABINET. 


175 


about what other people say. That was 
what I meant by her 6 worshipping Saint 
Grundy;’ but it was ill-natured of me to 
criticise her. As for the black pins, she is 
a remarkably benevolent woman, Puss ; but 
she can’t buy black pins all the time ; you 
may set that down as a fact. Why, Fly, 
what now ?” 

The child had snapped her bonbon, and, 
instead of candy, had found a red paper 
riding cap trimmed with gold fringe ; with 
this on her head, she was climbing the drop- 
light, k la monkey. Fortunately the gas 
had been lighted only in the chandelier; 
but three inches more, and Fly's gold tas- 
sels would have been on fire. Uncle Augus- 
tus rose in alarm ; but Horace laughed, 
believing the little witch could be trusted to 
keep out of fire and water. 

After dinner, as they were returning to 


176 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


the parlor, Uncle Augustus said to hia 
wife, — 

“Between us, Margery, I don’t believe 
you’d dare invite that little will-o’-the-wisp 
here again without her mother.” 

“Never,” returned auntie, laughing, — ■ 

“ ‘ Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear, 

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun.’ ” 

They all sat chatting around the pari of 
fire, — Uncle Augustus always would have 
an open fire, — when Dotty slipped out un- 
observed, and went round the house hunt- 
ing for the lost rings. She went first to 
auntie’s chamber, and looked in the blue 
pocket; but it was empty. The wardrobe 
and closet had been restored to perfect or- 
der, and the jewel cabinet was not to be 
seen. Then she went slowly along to the 
housekeeper’s room, and knocked, with 
her heart in her mouth. 


THE JEWEL CABINET. 


177 


“ How do you do, Mrs. Fixfax ? Isn’t it 
nice to get that old stove out? I thought 
you’d let me come in and look to see if 
I’ve — I’ve left anything.” 

“ Certainly, dear. What have you lost ?” 
Mrs. Fixfax went on with her reading, and 
did not seem to hear Dotty’s muttered an- 
swer -about “ running round so when Fly 
was sick. Didn’t know but she’d put — 
wasn’t sure. — Guessed not.” 

“ Why, you see,” said Dotty, to herself, 
as she left the room with downcast eyes, 
“it’s no use to hunt there. Cupboard’s 
gone, stove’s gone. Nothing in the bath- 
room but soap and towels. I believe 
auntie’s cat has swallowed those rings.” 

She went back to Mrs. Allen’s room, 
turned the gas higher, and looked mourn- 
fully at herself in the glass. 

“ Shall I tell her the truth, that they’re 

12 


178 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


gone, and I lost them? Would my dear 
Aunt Madge go and take all father’s money 
away? Mother says we must do what is 
right, and God will take care of the rest.” 

Just then Fly entered, followed by Mrs, 
Allen. 

“You here, Dotty? I see my chamber 
is in excellent order. Let me look at the 
drawers. What? My jewel cabinet ? Didn’t 
I lock that in the safe ? All right, no doubt, 
but I’ll examine it.” 

She wheeled up a little easy-chair, sat 
down, and poured the jewels into her lap. 
What were Dotty’s feelings as she stood 
there looking on ? The gas-light seemed 
to turn the glittering diamonds into points 
of flame ; but Dotty could not help gazing. 

Why, what was that? Did her eyes 
deceive her ? That ring with glass rasp- 
berry seeds 1 And, 0 , was it possible 1 


THE JEWEL CABINET. 


179 


The one like a drop of blood with ice 
frozen over it ! Both there. 

She learned afterwards that Mrs. Fixfax 
had found the rings in the bottom of the 
ivory bathing-tub, where Fly had had her 
“ turkey wash.” 

Hark ! Auntie was counting : “ One, two, 
three, four. All safe. Not that I supposed 
any one would meddle with my cabinet, of 
course.” 

“ Auntie,” burst forth Dotty, her face 
tingling with shame, “/ did. I wore two 
of those rings, and lost ’em off my thumbs. 
I don’t see how they ever came back in that 
cabinet, for the only thing I know certain 
true is, I never put ’em there. O, auntie, 
if I had’t found ’em, I was ’most afraid to 
tell you about it, because my father’s so 
poor.” 

“ Child, child, you wouldn’t have deceived 


180 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


me ? I could bear anything better than that. 
And, Dotty, I don’t believe it of you. You 
would have told the truth.” 

“ Yes, auntie, I do guess I should. It’s 
better to eat fried pork than to act out a 
lie.” What the truth had to do with eat- 
ing fried pork, Aunt Madge could not im- 
agine ; but she assured Dotty she fully be- 
lieved her when she promised not to meddle 
in future ; and the child bounded down stairs 
with a heart like a bubble. 

Fly had come up to go to bed. 

“I’ve found sumpin,” cried she, peeping 
into a basket behind the door. “ It’s got 
eyes, and I know it’s a doggie.” 

“ You little rogue ! I didn’t mean you 
should see that dog to-night.” 

“ 0, it’s no matter ’bout me. If Dotty' d 
Been it, she’d been ’ spectin 9 it !” 

The quick-witted child knew just as well 
then as she did next morning, that the dog 


THE JEWEL CABINET. 


181 


—a King Charles spaniel — was intended 
for her. Mrs. Allen was so amused that she 
could scarcely sing Fly's by-low hymn: — 

“Sleep, little one, like a lamb in the fold, 

Shut from the tempest, safe from the cold ; 

Sleep, little one, like a star in the sky, 

Wrapped in a cloud, while the storm- wind sweeps by.’* 

It was quite as hard to keep a grave 
face when Fly added to her evening prayer 
the petition, - 

“ God f give me speakin’ a naughty word 
; 'fore Miss Perdigoff” 

“ What naughty word, darling?” 

“ Hunky dory,” replied Fly, with a deep 
sense of guilt. Not that she thought it 
wrong to use a coarse word, only wrong to 
use it “’fore Miss Perdigoff.” 

Aunt Madge entered into a short explana- 
tion of the true nature of right and wrong ; 
but her words were thrown away, for that 
“curly dog” filled every nook and corner 
of Fly’s little mind. 


182 


PKUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


CHAPTER XII. 

“FOLDED EYES." 

“Folded eyes - see brighter colors 
Than the open ever do.” 

It stormed next day ; but as “ brooks 
don’t mind the weather,” Maria and her 
mother appeared again. When Aunt Madge 
went down to see them, Maria was sitting 
near the dining-room door, the scarlet spots 
of excitement coming and going in her 
cheeks. She could think of nothing but 
the wonderful, unknown doctor, who would 
know in one moment whether she could 
ever see or not. 


FOLDED EYES. 


183 


“We hadn’t ought to have come in this 
snow-storm, ma’am,” said Mrs. Brooks ; 
“but poor Maria, she couldn’t he denied. 
She said she must come, whether or no. 
But of course we don’t hold you to your 
promise, ma’am, and I hope you don’t think 
we’re that sort of folks.” 

While Mrs. Brooks was talking, with her 
nose moving up and down, Maria’s face was 
turned towards Mrs. Allen, her quick ears 
eager to catch the first sound of her voice. 
What if the word should be No ? But Aunt 
Madge was never known to break a child’s 
heart. 

“Who minds a snow-storm?” said she, 
gayly. “I love it as well as any snow-bird. 
I am very sorry you were disappointed the 
other day. I’ll have my wraps on in two 
minutes.” 

The children watched from the bay-win* 


184 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


dow as John came round with the carriage, 
and the three ladies got in. 

“ She’s a rare one,” remarked Horace, with 
a sweep of his thumb. 

“Who? Maria?” 

“Ho, Dot; the one in front; the hand- 
somest woman in the city of Hew York. 
Tell you what, ’tisn’t everybody would go 
round and look up the poor the way she 
does; and she rich as mud, too.” 

“ Why, Horace, that’s the very reason she 
ought to do it. What would be the use 
of her being rich if she didn’t?” 

“ Poh !” said Horace, with a look of un- 
speakable wisdom. “Much as you know, 
Prue. Rich people are the stingiest in the 
world. The fact is, the more you have, the 
more you don’t give away.” 

“0, what a story!” said Dotty. “The 
more I have, the more I do — I mean I 
shall , if I ever get my meeting-house full.” 


FOLDED EYES. 


185 


Horace laughed heartily. 

“ What’d I say now, Horace Clifford ?” 

“ I was only thinking, Dot, that’s what’s 
the matter with everybody ; they’re waiting 
to get their meeting-houses full.” 

Dotty did not understand the remark, but 
thought it safe to pout. 

“I can’t help thinking about that poor 
' Maria,” said Prudy. “ Do you suppose, 
Horace, the doctor can help her?” 

“Yes, I presume he can. It will proba- 
bly take him about five minutes,” replied 
Master Horace, as decidedly as if he had 
studied medicine all his days. “But do 
you suppose he’ll do it for nothing? Not 
if he knows it. He’ll see the carriage, and 
find out auntie has money ; and then won’t 
he make her pay over? Just the way with 
’em, Prue. He’s one of these doctor!! 
that’s rolling in gold.” 


186 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“ Rollin’ in gold,” repeated Fly, thinking 
how hard that must be for him, and how it 
would hurt. 

But Horace was quite mistaken. The 
doctor did not say one word about money. 
He asked Mrs. Brooks to tell him just how 
and when Maria had begun to grow blind. 
And though she made a tedious story of it, 
he listened patiently till she said, — 

“How, doctor, I am poor, and we’ve been 
unfortunate, and I don’t know as I shall be 
able to pay you, and I — ” 

“Ho matter for that, my good woman. I 
shan’t charge you one penny. Don’t take 
up my time talking about money. I’s my 
business to talk about eyes. Lead the child 
to the window.” 

The scarlet spots in Maria’s cheeks faded, 
leaving her very pale. She held her breath. 
Would the doctor ever stop pulling open her 


FOLDED EYES. 


187 


eyelids ? It was not half a minute, though. 
Then he spoke : — 

“ Madam, are you willing to do exactly 
as I say ? Can you both be patient ? If so, 
I have hope of this child. ,, 

Maria swayed forward at these words, and 
Mrs. Allen caught her in her arms. Mrs. 
Brooks ran around in a maze, crying, 
“ We’ve killed her ! we’ve killed her !” and 
wildly took up a case of instruments, to 
do, she knew not what; but the doctoi 
stopped her, and dashed a little water in 
Maria’s face. 

When the dear little girl came out of 
her swoon, she was murmuring to her- 
self, — 

“ I thought God would be willing ! I 
thought God would be willing J” 

She did not know any one heard her, 
Mrs. Brooks rushed up to her. 


188 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


“You are the best man alive, Maria,” 
said she. 

Then she turned to the doctor, calling 
him “ my dear little girl,’* and might have 
kissed him if he had not laughed. 

“ Why, I beg your pardon, sir,” cried 
she, blushing. “ I don’t believe I know 
what I am about.” 

“I don’t believe you do, either, so I’ll 
give my message to this other lady i I 
want the little girl to come again to-mor- 
row without fail. It is well I saw her so 
soon. A few weeks longer, and she could 
not have been helped.” 

“You don’t say so, doctor! And I never 
thought of coming. I shouldn’t have stirred 
a step if it hadn’t been for this good, kind 
Mrs. Allen. O, what an amazing world this 


“ And you know, Mrs. Brooks,” returned 


FOLDED EYES. 


189 


Aunt Madge, “I should never have heard 
of you if ray baby niece hadn’t run away. 
As you say, it is an amazing world ! ” 

“And there’s One above who rules it,” 
said the doctor, as he bowed them out. 

“Yes, there’s One above who rules it,” 
thought happy Maria, riding home in the 
carriage. “If I’ve asked Him once, I’ve 
asked Him five thousand times, and some- 
how I knew He’d attend to it after a while.” 

“0, what did the doctor say to her ? 
What did he do?” cried the children, the 
moment their aunt appeared in the parlor. 

“ He says he can cure her if she will only 
be patient.” 

Prudy screamed for joy. 

“ 0, dear ! why didn’t he cure her right 
off?” cried Dotty. “We s’posed she was 
seeing like everything.” 

“ Why, child, do you expect things aro 


190 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


going to be done by steam ? ” said Horace, 
forgetting he had calculated it would take 
about five minutes. 

“Well, if he didn’t had no steam, he 
could ’a’ tookened the sidders, and picked 
’em open,” sniffed Fly, who had great con- 
tempt for slow people. 

“Ah, little Hopclover,” laughed auntie, 
“you’re like us grown folks all the world 
over, scolding about what you don’t under- 
stand.” 

A few more days were spent in uninter- 
rupted happiness. Fly declared “ Santa 
Claus is a darlin’,” when she received the 
King Charles spaniel, which, by the way, 
had not been purchased without the full 
consent of Horace, who was even willing, 
for his little sister’s sake, to take him home 
in the cars. 


FOLDED EYES. 


191 


The youth, in his turn, was made happy * 
by the gift of a silver-mounted rifle ; while 
Prudy rejoiced in a rosewood writing desk, 
and Dotty in a gold pen. 

“ All’s well that ends well.’’ Uncle Au- 
gustus was at home, and that in itself was 
as good as most fairy stories. Fly had the 
kindness to “stay found’’ for the rest of the 
visit, and did not even take another cold. 
Dotty was unmixed sweetness. Maria came 
every day with such a beaming face that it 
was delightful to see her. 

Mrs. PragofF asked for all their photo- 
graphs, and gave the Parlins some Polish 
mittens to carry home to their mother. 

“ I s’pose you know,” said Dotty, private- 
ly to Prudy, “ there’s not another girl at my 
school been to New York, and treated with 
such attention ; but 0, I tell you, I shan’t 
be proud. I shall always love Tate Penny 
just the same. 


192 


PRUDY KEEPING HOUSE. 


fallen the day came to separate, it went 
hard with them all. 

“Just as we got to having a good time / 5 
said Dotty, her face in a hard knot. 

“ But we shall all meet next summer,” 
said Prudy, hopefully. 

“ I don’t want to wait,” moaned Fly, go- 
ing into her pocket-hangfiss — all hut her 
back hair and the rest of her body. 

I have a great mind to let her stay there 
till we come to the next book, which is, 
Aunt Madge’s Story, told by herself. 






























































































































































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